COPE, PAC: Politics blunts the plunder

By Chandani Kirinde, Our Lobby Correspondent

The role of Parliament’s two most important Committees, the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) came into the spotlight in the Legislature last week and one disturbing aspect that emerged during the discussions in the House on the role of the Committees was the partisan manner in which MPs viewed their activities, depending largely on which side of the House they occupy.

Even though the usual deliberations of the two Committees are done behind closed doors, to which neither the media nor the public have access, they were thrust into open debate in Parliament on Tuesday and Wednesday. COPE due to the No-Confidence Motion that has been brought against Tourism Minister Milinda Moragoda based on the contents of a report of the Committee and the PAC due to the role of the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue in connection with the VAT scam.

Spearheaded by the UNP, the JVP and the TNA had both supported an early debate on the No-Confidence Motion. By way of trying to avoid an early debate – there arises serious doubts if the Government is taking the findings of the COPE report, much of which are cased on the findings of the Auditor General himself –seriously.

It all started with the question raised by Chief Opposition Whip Joseph Michael Perera who asked if the Government accepted the findings of COPE or not. The reply to that query from Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle was “Neither do we accept it nor do we reject it.”

The contention of the Government side is that these are only allegations and a person named in the report can be found guilty only after the allegations are proved in courts while both the UNP and the JVP feel the contents of the report are sufficient to warrant a No-Confidence Motion against Minister Moragoda.

The particular report containing the allegations against Mr.Moragoda was endorsed by all 30 members of the Committee including members of the ruling Party, the UNP, JVP, TNA and the JHU. Since the No Confidence Motion was handed over by former minister Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, Mr.Moragoda himself took the unprecedented step of writing to Speaker W.J.M.Lokubandara requesting an early date for the debate.

But there seems to have been a change of mind given the JVP decision to support the motion against Minister Moragoda because Mr. Fernandopulle told Parliament that Mr. Moragoda has since written saying there was no necessity to rush the debate.
Why he does not come to Parliament and directly address the issue without using his colleagues to do it, is puzzling many, especially the opposition MPs who argue that a debate would give the minister a platform to clear his name against the serious allegations levelled against him in the Report.

The JVPs reason for backing the Motion are not exactly the same as that of the UNP’s because while the party takes the contents of the COPE report seriously, it says much of the corruption and waste in public funds that have been revealed in the Report including those directed at Mr. Moragoda had taken place during the 2001-2004 period when the UNP was in Government.

They want to use the debate to expose the large scale malpractices that took place during that period as well as those taking place today, according to the JVP’s parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa. The Government side made it clear that there would be no debate on the Motion till next year and that too after the No Confidence Motion against Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and a censure vote against Deputy Minister Mervyn Silva that have been presented by the Opposition and a censure motion against UNP Ratnapura district MP Mahinda Ratnatilleke handed in by the Government are first debated on the grounds that they were initiated before Minister Moragoda’s matter.

On Wednesday, while the COPE issue took a back seat, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and particularly the role of its Chairman Minister Rauff Hakeem became the topic of discussion. JVP MP Wasantha Samarasinghe , himself a PAC member raised the issue in the Chamber stating his privileges as a MP have been violated by the fact that the decisions taken at the Committee meetings have not been communicated to the relevant authorities, in this instance the Secretary to the Finance Ministry recommending that the Commissioner General of Inland’ Revenue be sent on compulsory leave till the investigations into the VAT scam are concluded as the committee had agreed to do when it met on October 9.

Mr.Hakeem, who took over as Chairman of PAC when he was an opposition member, on a compromise reached at the time between the government and the opposition that COPE would be headed by Government member Wijedasa Rajapakse while PAC would be chaired by Mr.Hakeem said, it was the non availability of the verbatim reports of the proceedings of the Committee meetings that was delaying him from sending the necessary communication to the Finance Ministry.

However, it was Minister Hakeem’s comment that he needed to consult with the President as well on the issue that triggered an angry response from both the UNP and JVP MPs who said that Parliamentary committees are not answerable to the President and he has the power to communicate the decision arrived at by the Committee to the relevant institution.

As traditionally the post of Chairman of the PAC is held by an opposition member, UNP Kandy district MP Lakshman Kiriella said Mr.Hakeem should step down from the post since he has become a Cabinet minister now. In response Mr. Hakeem challenged the UNP to bring a no confidence motion against him if they had doubts about his conduct as Chairman of PAC. He also accused some opposition members of leaking certain proceedings of the Committee to score brownie points and suggested that the Committee proceedings be open to the media.

Speaker Lokubandara said opening the Committee to the media would be a good idea and said party leaders should discuss the matter and come to an agreement soon. While the image of the Committee on Public Enterprises has been greatly enhanced in the eyes of the public in recent months for its exposure of several instances of gross acts of corruption in the state sector, PAC is yet to come out with a credible report on its findings. And unless the members in the Committee can work in harmony, one cannot expect the public to have much faith in its ability to play its role of scrutinising the management of public funds and exposing those guilty of looting the tax payers money.