Major frauds at Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Ltd :Minister

An audit on sales and distribution of petroleum products from Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Ltd (CPSTL) has revealed that a string of financial irregularities have taken place in the institution,  Minister of  Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekara has revealed.

The forensic audit was initiated based on a complaint that the Minister made to the CID in August 2022 on irregularities at CPC & CPSTL. CID after their initial investigations advised the Ministry to conduct a full forensic audit to further investigate.

Minister Wijesekara said he was briefed on the major findings of the forensic audit conducted by KPMG today afternoon. 

Among the findings are:

More than 1.3 Million entries on SAP data has been changed or deleted since 2010 and most has occurred in 2022 during the height of the fuel crisis

After the complaint was lodged in August 2022 the number has significantly reduced in 2023.

Massive losses has been recorded from stock holding in 2022 amounting to Rs 28 Billion & after the complaint was lodged it has come down to Rs 4 billion in 2023

Use of outdated circulars & procedures and no adequate data available or kept to determine certain irregularities

The Minister said the full report will be handed over next week by KPMG and in turn he will handover the complete report to the CID for further investigations to take appropriate legal steps.

He said the report  will also be shared with the Cabinet of Ministers, Parliament, Audited General and Attorney Generals Department to pursue the next steps.