JVP wants Rajapaksa to act and punish fraudsters

The JVP this week urged President Mahinda Rajapaksa to punish fraudsters found guilty in the probe report presented by the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), but also pointed out that the President was inactive on many of these issues.

Anura Dissanayake, MP and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Politburo member, made these comments while addressing a large gathering of intellectuals at a conference at the Mahaweli Centre organised by the JVP with the topic being 'Why the fraudsters revealed by the COPE should be punished?'

Minister Dissanayake said the defrauded amount computes to nearly one third of Sri Lanka's income.

He further said the Parliament and COPE had done their duties for the most part, but it was the duty and responsibility of the head of state to make the crucial decision to punish them.

"Of the 200 public institutions that COPE looks after, it was found by the COPE committee that 26 institutions have defrauded a massive amount that would compute to a third of Sri Lanka's income.

These amounts can facilitate the healthcare services together with a host of other such services," he pointed out. Dissanayake told the crowd that his intention was to educate the public on these numerous issues so they in turn could urge their representatives to do something about the crisis. The JVP is hoping such discussions will create a strong public opinion which will withstand any amount of political pressure.

The JVP spoke on the President's failure to act on the damning allegations in the COPE report submitted to Parliament earlier this year by COPE Chairman Wijedasa Rajapakse.

Dissanayake told the audience that the President had time and again been inactive in taking any real action to recover losses pertaining to the privatisation of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC), Lanka Marine Services Limited (LMSL), the failed finance companies which have created debts in excess of Rs.7 billion to the Central Bank (CB) as well as a host of other issues.
The findings of the COPE report which were initially met with a flurry of media coverage and attention by politicians alike is apparently still being earnestly debated in Parliament, according to COPE Chairman Rajapakse. However, the JVP stressed that, this was not enough. (DE) (NG)