As we've all heard, the Ceylon Electricity Board is loss making company. As a superb decision that the Yahapalana government took to maximize the loss, the Norochcholai Coal Power Purchase Fraud can be introduced. Regarding this fraud, the The Anti-Corruption Front had lodged a complaint with the Bribery or Corruption Commission. It further states that government officials have committed a misconduct in purchasing coal in violation of the Bribery Act No. 11 of 1954 and the Bribery or Corruption Investigation Commission Act No 19 of 1994. It is well established that these government officials are seriously exploiting public money on the pretext of buying coal.
The corruption that has taken place at the tender for the importation of coal to the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant that supplies electricity to the Ceylon Electricity Board was due to the corrupted manner that the Procurement Committee that was appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers. Six bidders were eligible for the tender that was called in 2015 and from all those bids that were provided, the lowest bid was submitted from a company named Noble Resources. Ranked at fifth position was a company named Swiss Singapore. The committee also provided the Technical Evaluation Committee Report, which concluded that Nobel Resources was the lowest bidder and the Swiss Singapore Company was ranked fifth in position.
Here breaching the tender conditions, the company that was ranked the fifth highest bidder in position Swiss Singapore, has submitted a letter to the Procurement Committee requesting that the tender conditions be changed. Accordingly, after the Procurement Board changed the two tender conditions, they had asked the Technical Evaluation Committee to submit another evaluation report. Correspondingly, after these two conditions had been changed, the Technical Evaluation Report has been submitted to the Procurement Committee by the officers of the TEC. By the way, the bidder who was in the fifth position reached the first position of bidders.
The Procurement Appeal Board had ruled that the tender was cancelled, even when the Minister had recommended the cancellation, the Cabinet paper had submitted a paper and obtained approval for it as soon as the Cabinet of Ministers were changed. The Supreme Court has also shown that it is not legal. Standing Procurement Committee appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers, rejected the bid by the Swiss Singapore Company, but instead a letter was sent by Swiss Singapore based on the recommendations of the Technical Evaluation Committee to evaluate the bid. It is evident that the powers that were vested in the Standing Procurement Committee which was appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers were abused or exceeded.
At a meeting held by the Standing Procurement Committee appointed by the Cabinet on the 29-06-2015, the re-evaluation of tenders were done without considering the approved measures to evaluate the bids due to the demand made by the Technical Evaluation Committee. Therefore, the cabinet decision taken on the relevant cabinet paper has been obtained by misleading the cabinet ministers. This is not an unknown fact, as the Procurement Board functions as a high-ranking executive with experience in these functions, holding high positions in government institutions. Even though the Procurement Appeal Board and the Minister had recommended the cancellation of the tender, when the action was taken to award the tender, it is clearly suspicious and obvious that this tender was deliberately dealt with to make a huge profit for one selected person.
Further, due to the issue of the tender, coal was purchased at a lower price in the instantaneous purchasing system since the price of coal was falling in the world market to prevent a shortage of electricity. Cabinet approval has been given by the Cabinet for this purpose. Despite this, the Procurement Committee has caused a huge financial loss to the Government of Sri Lanka by purchasing coal from the Swiss Singapore Company for a fraction of the cost of the Cabinet, as the Court decided.
Despite having US $ 51.20 for 1 metric tonne of coal, 330,000 metric tonnes was bought from the Swiss Singapore Company for US $ 51.96 per metric tonne. This incurs a loss of US $ 221,100 to government of Sri Lanka. When buying coal at the lowest possible price through the instant purchase method, the price index of coal in the world market is being sold at a price of 51.85 but the Government of Sri Lanka purchases coal from the Swiss Singapore Company at a price of 58. On the basis of this the Government of Sri Lanka has introduced a Price Index Formula with the participation of the Procurement Board that changes every month which increases the loss to Sri Lanka but increases the profits to the Swiss Singapore Company.
The Procurement Committee officers who assisted in this scam were:
Mr. B.M.S Batagoda - Secretary, Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy.
Mr. G.S Vithanage - Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Employment.
Mr. S.A.N Saranatissa - Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy.
Mr. M.C Wickramasekara - General Manager, Ceylon Electricity Board.
Mr. A.K Seneviratne - Director General, Treasury and Ministry of Finance.
Mr. P.R.L Wasantha, Chief Accountant, Sri Lanka Air Force
These frauds carried out under the leadership of the Minister of Power and Energy have resulted in the loss of the public's money. Are such leaders worth to the country?
Bình luận