News
Committee appointed to probe container traffic backlog
View(s):By Damith Wickramasekara
The Finance Ministry has appointed a committee to investigate the continued delay in clearing the backlog of container traffic at the Colombo Port.
The committee will be looking at whether there has been any deliberate act of sabotage in the failure to clear the backlog of containers from the port for more than two weeks. It will also probe the controversy surrounding the clearing of 323 import containers without subjecting them to Customs inspection.
The committee will be headed by Deputy Treasyrt Secretary A.K. Seneviratne. Its other members are Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation E.M.S.B. Jayasundara, Director General of the Department of Trade and Investment Policies M.K.P. Kumara, Director General of the Department of Management Audit A.P. Kurumbalapitiya and Senior Director of Customs Sapumal Jayasundara. Director of the Department of Trade and Investment Policies Dr. Vishaka Elapatha will be the Secretary/ Convener of the committee.
Welcoming the move, a senior Customs official told the Sunday Times that some trade unions have been agitating to remove the Customs Director General and there are suspicions that the problems in clearing containers from the port may also be part of these efforts. Customs had also recently set up an internal anti-corruption unit, which was established for people to complain about internal corruption within Customs. Four Customs officials have already been detected while engaging in corrupt activities by this unit and have since been interdicted. As such, officials are now more fearful of engaging in corrupt activities, the source claimed.
Commenting on the container issue at the Colombo Port, the official said it has become evident to them that some Customs unions have “joined forces” to dramatically reduce the speed of inspecting containers at the port by as much as 50%, leading to a backlog. “It seems to us that they have manipulated this to create an artificial backlog,” the official claimed, adding that the continued delays are causing harm to the Customs Risk Management System used to identify and target high-risk shipments for further examination. The official said they would offer all necessary support to the committee.
“We suspect this (continued delay in clearing containers at the port) is deliberate,” said a senior Finance Ministry official. He said the Finance Ministry will not hesitate to take strict disciplinary action, even dismiss officials if it is found that they have been working to sabotage container clearing efforts at the Colombo Port.
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