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Ranjan Ramanayake media briefing On COPE investigations at Sirikotha

A number of former officials of SriLankan Airlines will be brought before the Committee on Public Enterprise (COPE) in the near future, COPE Member and Deputy Minister, Ranjan Ramanayake said yesterday (25).

He added, there are agreements entered into by former top administrators that have created serious issues for the government.
"We spoke to the current administrators at the airline and they also admit that former top administrators took a number of irresponsible decisions and were responsible for financial irregularities.

The agreements they entered into are binding and we can't get out of them," he said. The Mahinda Rajapaksa administration had ordered a number of aircrafts from Airbus Industrie, out of which one was to be fitted like the Air Force 1 used by the President of USA, costing millions of dollars, Ramanayake said.
"We don't need that much of aircraft but we can't get out of the agreements because these companies will sue us. Sri Lankan has already made a significant down payment to Airbus," he added.


COPE which is headed by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) MP Sunil Handunnetti will continue to investigate financial irregularities and push the Attorney General's Department to take legal action against those who are guilty of abusing public funds.
"For example, we have sent a file on the irregularities which have occurred at Lankaputra Bank, to the Attorney General's Department and have asked them to take necessary steps," he said.