The Chairman of the Committee, Member of Parliament (Professor) Mr. Charitha Herath said that the Parliament will focus on taking special measures regarding the officers who do not implement the recommendations and decisions made by the COPE Committee.
He mentioned this when a special meeting of the Committee on Public Enterprises was held in Parliament yesterday (04).
The meeting was held especially with the participation of the members of the committee and the views of the members on 3 main issues were obtained. Accordingly, the review of the progress of the COPE Committee investigations conducted during the period from February 23, 2022 to now took place here. Accordingly, the Chairman of the Cope Committee stated that the investigations carried out during this period have been prepared as one report and copies of the report have been given to the members of the committee.
He further mentioned that the decisions related to several institutions including Sri Lankan Airlines, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, State Timber Corporation, People’s Bank, Development Lottery Board, Building Materials Corporation Limited, Litro Gas Lanka Limited and Litro Gas Terminal Lanka Private Limited. included in the report. The chairman of the committee further pointed out that certain reports have not yet been received by the committee related to certain decisions given by the committee.
The MPs who were present pointed out that strict action should be taken against the officers who do not implement these decisions. They pointed out that the parliament and the committee should intervene further for that. The members especially said that the public should be aware that this is a place where there is an important work beyond the status of a media show or a story-telling documentary.
Thus, the Chairman of the Committee stated that the Committee is working according to the legislative powers received in terms of the Standing Orders and the Constitution. He also pointed out that the identified important institutions will be called back and special measures will be taken as Parliament in the future.
Furthermore, the COPE Committee decided the extra dates related to the special meetings to discuss the implementation of public debt and financial policies of the Central Bank. Accordingly, the COPE committee decided to hold special meetings to discuss this on the 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd of this month. For that purpose, it was agreed to call the former Governors of the Central Bank, former Secretaries of the Ministry of Finance and other officials.
Also, it was decided to have a special meeting on August 02, 03, 04, 05 of the COPE Committee to look into the electricity generation, purchase, distribution and projects of the Ceylon Electricity Board.
In addition, it was also decided in this meeting to call the Ceylon Petroleum Statutory Corporation to the COPE Committee on the 7th of this month.
Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, Members of Parliament Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Indika Anuruddha, (Dr.) Harsha de Silva, Patali Champika Ranawaka, S. M. Marikkar, Naleen Bandara, Premnath C. Dolawatta and Madhura Vithanage participated for this committee meeting.
