News
Container controversy: Report not yet out six weeks after committee appointed
View(s):By Sandun Jayawardana
Though it has now been more than six weeks since a committee was appointed by the Finance Ministry to investigate the incident of 323 containers of imported items being released without Customs inspection, the committee is yet to complete its probe and submit a report.
A Customs source told the Sunday Times yesterday that the probe was “not even halfway through” but insisted any talk of a delay in completing the inquiry was unfair since the committee needed to conduct a thorough investigation given the magnitude of the controversy surrounding the matter.
In addition to probing the release of the 323 containers, the committee has also been tasked with investigating continued delays in clearing containers at the Colombo Port. The delay led to a crisis in January when several thousand containers became stuck at the Port without being cleared. It will be looking into whether it was a deliberate act of sabotage.
The committee headed by Deputy Treasury Secretary A.K. Seneviratne, includes 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.
Opposition parties have repeatedly charged that the 323 containers that were cleared without inspection belonged to a government figure. Western Province Governor Hanif Yusoof has already denied accusations levelled by some in the opposition that they belonged to him and the company he founded. Mr Yusoof has already filed a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department over the accusations.
Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Mujibur Rahman raised the matter of the released 323 containers during Friday’s Committee Stage Budget debate on the expenditure head of the Ministry of Finance. “Even up until today, there has been no report tabled in Parliament revealing who those containers and goods belonged to,” Mr Rahman noted. While it is good that the National People’s Power government is periodically releasing “lists” containing irregularities committed during past governments, it should also work just as swiftly to reveal this “large scale fraud” that took place under its watch, the MP stressed.
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