Government is to take stringent legal action against corrupt officials and interested individuals for trying hard to sabotage the present fuel procurement process to push the country into difficulties even by going to the extent of spreading false information and carrying out disruptive activities.
Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekara has lodged a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID)yesterday to investigate into the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and Ceylon Petrol Storage Terminals (CPSTL) activities and actions of individuals aimed at sabotaging fuel procurement and distribution .
In a tweet, the minister said he requested an investigation into the fuel procurement, evaluation of proposals, non-placement of orders, selection of suppliers, delays in payments, distribution irregularities and also the allegations made by individuals within CPC and the CPSTL.
Sri Lanka is running out of options in importing discounted fuel directly from Russia following the refusal of the two of its companies sanctioned by the Russian Ambassador Yury Materiy to enter into procurement agreements with local authorities this week.
However these two Russian companies have conveyed their inability to supply oil on long term credit as well as the financial transaction issues of banks owing to Sri Lanka’s declaration of foreign debt default, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) sources said.
The other reason was the refusal of foreign banks to open letters of credit (LoC) for purchases from the Russian Federation, sources added.
Thus the country has no other option other than placing orders with third parties who may be procuring the oil from Russia. There was also the risk of international banks refusing to underwrite LoCs when they come to know about the origin of the fuel.
Sri Lanka is gradually recovering from the fuel crisis triggered by dollar scarcity with the help of a handful of local agents of international fuel companies and suppliers with great difficulty facing challenges following the refusal of regular suppliers to bid for fuel procurement tenders, Energy Ministry sources said.
These regular suppliers were asking the pound of flesh like “Shylocks” demanding to pay their dues amounting US$ 735 million as soon as possible and make up font payments or bank deposits for them to enter into long term fuel procure tenders without considering the direstraits of the government.
Under this situation, the Energy Ministry had no option other than resorting to spot fuel purchasing procedure allowing a few prospective suppliers to import fuel from international companies.
This arrangement has made it possible for the Ceylon Petroleum corporation to procure fuel shipments to tackle the severe severe fuel crisis and difficulties faced by the people who were forced to wait in queues for several days.
In order to keep on running the Sapugaskanda oil refinery, the Energy Ministry had contacted several countries including Oman and Russia holding discussions with embassies in the country as well , Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said..
“Even though we have requested firms, due to the financial situation and the ratings of the banks in the country most companies do not agree to get into loan schemes to get oil he added.
Ministry has given the permission for three companies to import crude oil and only one company, the Coral Energy of UAE, has agreed to bring in two shipments carrying Siberian crude oil, he said.
Several interested parties have made unfounded and baseless allegations of taking commissions by officials and individuals claiming that the purchasing prices of this company were too high.
This was an attempt to sabotage the government’s efforts to over come the present fuel crisis which has paralysed the country, a top official of the government said adding that such actions and practices will make the situation worse for the people.
The Ministry of Power and Energy states that the imported crude oil shipment is currently in the process of being unloaded.
The ship carrying 100,000 metric tonnes of crude oil reached the island on the 13th of August.ss of unloading the shipment commenced yesterday (18) following the quality sampling.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Power and Energy stated that the Sapugaskanda oil refinery will resume operations this week, after being temporarily closed down due to the crude oil shortage.
In addition, another ship carrying 120,000 metric tonnes of crude oil is scheduled to arrive on the island between August 23rd and 29th.
Govt takes stringent action against saboteurs for disrupting fuel procurement
Sri Lanka ruling party seeks assurances to let Gotabaya Rajapaksa back into country
Sri Lanka’s ruling party has asked the country’s new president to provide security and other assistance for his predecessor, who fled to south-east Asia last month after protests flared amid a crippling economic crisis.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa flew to Singapore last month and quit as Sri Lanka’s president, making way for veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe to win a vote in parliament and take the top job.
Rajapaksa, who has been accused of mishandling the island nation’s economy, leading to its worst financial crisis in seven decades, is currently in Thailand for a temporary stay.‘A moment of opportunity’: fall of Sri Lankan president raises victims’ hopes
Sagara Kariyawasam, general secretary of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, said on Thursday his party had approached Wickremesinghe for help to enable Rajapaksa’s return.
“We requested the president to facilitate and provide the necessary security and facilities for former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to return to the country,” Kariyawasam said. “The date of his return is not finalised.
Local broadcaster Newsfirst, citing a former ambassador, said on Wednesday that Rajapaksa would return home next week.
In an interview with Reuters earlier on Thursday, Wickremesinghe said he was “not aware” of any such plans for the former president’s return.
Rajapaksa, a former military officer who took office after winning an election in 2019 by a landslide majority, is the first Sri Lankan president to quit mid-term.
His resignation followed widespread protests in the country of 22 million people, and came after thousands of people stormed the presidential residence and office in the commercial capital of Colombo in early July.
THE GUARDIAN
The program of sending government officials for foreign jobs to be expedited
The government is focusing on expanding the program of sending government officials for foreign jobs.
These matters were revealed in the recent discussion between the President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake and the government officials on several other matters including increasing the foreign exchange earnings and speeding up the process of effectively directing the public servants to foreign jobs and solving the problems faced by the related institutions.
In order to facilitate the system of referring government officials for foreign jobs, the amendment of the Public Administration Circular No. 14/2022 as well as 06 other matters were discussed.
By amending the Public Administration Circular, allowing the use of a non-resident foreign currency account or a rupee account for remittance of foreign currency, establishing a formal system of linking those accounts so as to receive contributions to widow and orphan’s pension and settle bank loan installments to be paid.
It is possible to remit money at least once in 03 months by the revision of the Public Administration Circular and permission has also been given to open an account in the name of the public officer, to open a joint account or to designate an account for sending money so that money can be debited in this country.
It has been decided to implement an awareness program for the target groups by identifying potential foreign employment segments by quickly finding foreign employment opportunities for the applied government employees and forwarding the applications to the relevant parties.
In the discussion, it is planned to encourage the development officers of the public service to go abroad for educational opportunities through foreign scholarships by carrying out a wide coverage under the program to effectively send them abroad.
In this discussion, attention was also focused on opening the data obtained by the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau for the reference of the Pension Department to streamline the payment of pensions to government employees who are employed abroad.
It was also discussed to give instructions and a time frame to the head of the institution regarding the procedures to be followed in forwarding applications for taking leave, and to establish an online appeal system for applications that are delayed in approval of leave.
It was further discussed to follow up on the program of sending government officials for foreign jobs from time to time.
Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs MMPK Mayadunne, Secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Foreign Employment RPE Wimalaweera, Director General of the Department of National Planning DA Kumarasiri, Director General of the Department of Management Services Hiransa Kaluthantri, Director of the High Bench Dr. BHPK Thilakaweera, Director General of Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau DDP Senanayake, Director General of Pensions Jagath D. Dias, Director General of Institutions of the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs Provincial Councils and Local Government Chandana Kumarasinghe were present.
Complaint from Minister Kanchana to CID against two institutions under him
Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera has submitted a complaint to the Criminal Investigation Department against two institutions under his authority.
Accordingly, the minister says that he has complained to investigate the affairs of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Ceylon Petroleum Warehouse Terminal Company.
It is stated that the minister has submitted this complaint to investigate the allegations made by various persons regarding the fuel purchase process, tender procedure, non-proper ordering of fuel, selection method of suppliers, delivery problems and payment delays.
Shehan Karunatilaka returns with another thrilling satire
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. By Shehan Karunatilaka. Sort Of Books; 368 pages; £16.99
Being a ghost, it turns out, much resembles being a war photographer: “Long periods of boredom interspersed with short bursts of terror”. Once a louche snapper with a taste for risky assignments and beautiful men, Malinda Almeida joins literature’s long roll call of deceased narrators. Over the seven days and nights that follow his demise, Maali (as he is known) must make sense of his own murder and of the civil conflicts that convulse Sri Lanka while he floats invisibly around Colombo, that “stinking city where deeds go unpunished and ghosts walk unseen”.Listen to this story.
The unhappy country produces illustrious writers but disordered politics. Many Sri Lankan authors flourish abroad, yet Shehan Karunatilaka has stayed to watch the serial calamities unfold. In 2010 his prize-winning debut, “Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew”, used the search for a vanished cricketing icon as a vehicle for its scorchingly satirical journey. “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida”, his second novel, returns to late 1989.
A bloody four-way struggle—between brutal government forces, Tamil separatists, Marxist-chauvinist guerrillas and Indian “peacekeepers”—has proved that “the chances of violence ending violence are one in nothing.” Peace of a sort arrived in 2009, although the country’s current meltdown suggests that this novel’s tropical dystopia has not dated. “Follow any turd upstream and it leads to a member of parliament,” snarls the photographer from his disembodied position of authority.
Maali has combined war-zone photojournalism with fixing for the competing spies who buzz around the corpses on Sri Lanka’s jungle battlefields. Whose death squad has left him among the “long slabs of meat” that “garbage men” will dump in fetid Beira lake? And will his killer negatives—images that expose the hidden state actors behind massacres—ever come to light? Maali has a week to settle his fate before the fusspot celestial bureaucracy forces him to choose between an afterlife as a long-term phantom or passage through “The Light” into rebirth and oblivion.
The quest that ensues is comic, macabre, angry and thumpingly alive. Maali’s sardonic, scurrilous monologue fills in his back story as a gambling-addicted lensman who loves the son of a Tamil politician; he hopes that his photo exposés will “do for Lanka’s civil war what naked napalm girl did for Vietnam”. It takes in the country’s manipulated ethnic strife and even the social geography of Maali’s quasi-Buddhist limbo. It has bite, brilliance and sparkle, though readers may sometimes wish for steady illumination rather than another pyrotechnic burst.
Maali’s posthumous pilgrimage shows him “how ugly this beautiful land is”. Still, the furious comedy in Mr Karunatilaka’s novel never courts despair. Acts of love and loyalty can count beyond the grave. The dead militants who pursue revenge, not karma, because “the world will not correct itself” don’t get the final word. That goes, more or less, to the sage spirit of a leopard who asks “why humans destroy when they can create”. Neither ghosts nor writers have the answer to that yet.
THE ECONOMIST
Mervyn Silva released without bail
Colombo Fort Additional Magistrate Keminda Perera has ordered the release of former Minister Mervyn Silva, who was arrested yesterday (18), without bail.
The Additional Magistrate has stated that there is no need for bail for Mervyn Silva, who stopped the slaughter of cows in Kelaniya, and that it is sufficient for him to appear before the court on November 16.
In 2007, the Criminal Investigation Department arrested Mervyn Silva and brought him to court in accordance with the instructions of the Attorney General regarding the forced break-in of the Sri Lanka Television Corporation in 2007.
President Ranil to vist Japan
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has planned to visit Japan next month.
It is said that there will be discussions with the Prime Minister of Japan regarding the debt restructuring of Sri Lanka.
President Ranil Wickramasinghe has stated in an interview with Reuters that he hopes to ask Japan to invite the main countries that have given loans to Sri Lanka, including China and India, to start bilateral debt restructuring talks.
The parties that do not represent the Parliament summoned to Election Commission
The Election Commission has decided to hold a special discussion with representatives of registered political parties that do not represent Parliament. The purpose of this is to discuss the amendments to be made in the electoral system.
This discussion will be held on the 23rd and apart from political party representatives, election monitoring organizations will also participate in this discussion, says Nimal G Punchihewa, Chairman of the Election Commission.
In this discussion, the political parties are to be informed about the amendments proposed by the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Law Reforms and the Election Commission has also intended to get proposals from the political parties in this regard.
A discussion was recently held with the representatives of the political parties representing the Parliament regarding these amendments.
SLPP urges President Wickremesinghe to guarantee former President Rajapaksa’s safe return
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) speaking at a discussion held with President Ranil Wickremesinghe today (18) urged that the safe return of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa be guaranteed.
The discussion was held at the Presidential Secretariat this evening.
Speaking at the discussion, National Organiser of the SLPP former Minister Basil Rajapaksa noted that the SLPP will extend its fullest support to the President in the mission to rebuild the country by resolving the economic crisis.
He added that ex President Rajapaksa’s safe return to the island must be guaranteed, revealing that it is the SLPP’s most important request from the government including President Wickremesinghe.
The same request has been made on several occasions by Venerable Iththepane Dhammalankara Thero and other Maha Sangha.
Prasanna Ranatunga, Sagara Kariyawasam, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Johnston Fernando, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Namal Rajapaksa and Sanjeewa Edirimanna attended the discussion on behalf of the SLPP.
Sagala Ratnayake, Vajira Abeywardena, Ruwan Wijewardena and Shamal Seneviratne attended the meeting on behalf of the President. Several other UNP envoys including former MPs Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Range Bandara and Prof. Ashu Marasinghe were also to attend the meeting but unable to due to being not well.
SL briefs foreign diplomats on the democratic transition and current development
Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry met the Colombo-based Ambassadors and High Commissioners at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a briefing on current developments ahead of the 51st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Minister Sabry outlined the current developments in Sri Lanka, including the democratic transition of office in accordance with the Constitution, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
He outlined several areas of progress already visible in addressing some of the immediate challenges which has led to a greater degree of stability for the people.
On the political front, the Minister briefed regarding the work underway towards forming an All-Party Government. He also recalled that the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution which effectively restores the 19th Amendment, has been gazetted and is before the Parliament.
This measure will contribute towards strengthening parliamentary democracy, oversight of the executive branches of government and the independence of key institutions. He also explained the progress that has been initiated towards a comprehensive review of the PTA.
The government is taking focused measures to mitigate the adverse impact of the current economic situation on the vulnerable sectors of the population in order to ensure the economic and social rights of the people and to prevent further disparities.
The Minister also noted that despite the unprecedented situation in the country in recent years, including in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, advancements have been made in the area of human rights and reconciliation through domestic processes.
The government is in the process of building consensus so that further progress can be made on matters related to human rights, justice and equity. The Foreign Minister emphasized that Sri Lanka will continue its constructive engagement with the Human Rights Council at the upcoming 51st session.
Finance Secretary Siriwardana made a presentation on the current economic situation, focusing on the social safety measures that the Government has adopted for vulnerable groups, with a view to mitigating adverse impacts.
The Attorney General elaborated on the legal framework related to the Government’s response to the recent incidents related to protests and the imposing of the State of Emergency.
Foreign Secretary Aruni Wijewardane highlighted Sri Lanka’s continuing and extensive engagement with several procedures and processes of the United Nations human rights framework.
During the discussion that followed the presentations, the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations Hanaa Singer-Hamdy expressed appreciation for the consistent efforts of the Government in facing the challenges and expanding the social safety net of vulnerable groups. She also acknowledged the review of the PTA.
The UN Resident Coordinator announced that the UN will be partnering with the Government of Sri Lanka on a five-year framework of cooperation which will include areas of social and economic rights and social cohesion amongst others.