Basil denies he hindered COPE

Newly appointed MP Basil Rajapaksa denied he had unduly intervened with the proceedings of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) in Parliament on Thursday prompting a walk out by the Committee’s chairman Wijedasa Rajapakse.

Mr. Rajapaksa explained that he had intervened only to state that officials had the right to give their answers or their version to the queries raised by the Auditor General and denied allegations that he took the side of officials at the COPE meeting prompting a walkout.He also denied that he had said that officials could without hold information from the Committee.

The issue came up when the Mahaweli Authority accounts were under scrutiny at the COPE proceeding during which the chairman had raised queries from the Mahaweli Authority officials and subsequently left the room due to disagreement with Mr. Rajapaksa.

After the chairman left, the proceedings had continued under Minister Dilan Perera. COPE met again on Friday with Mr. Wijedasa Rajapakse presiding. The chairman told The Sunday Times that sittings on Friday proceeded without incident and said he did not want to comment on Thursday’s incident.