Sri Lanka's Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has alleged of a fraud committed by the Petroleum Ministry through the purchase of an emergency consignment of 20,00 0 metric tons of fuel.
JVP parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake told a press conference that the reason behind the sale of substandard fuel was due to a massive fraud that had taken place when importing fuel.
He said that the procedures outlined by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) when importing fuel have not been followed when importing a stock of 20,000 metric tons of fuel last month.
He said that when tenders for fuel shipments have to be called 35 days earlier, the Ministry had called for tenders on May 5 and opened the tenders on May 25 to import 20,000 metric tons of fuel to be supplied by June 10. Due to time constraints many companies have not applied.
The Ministry Secretary had then unanimously decided and imported the stock through a company from the United Arab Emirates.
Dissanayake said that while fuel imported to the country are tested for their quality at the Kolonnawa refinery and the 20,000 metric tons imported had been revealed to be of low quality than the usual supplies.
The Ministry had initially refused permission to unload the stock, but had later granted permission for the shipment to be unloaded and distributed.
This substandard fuel caused problems in vehicles once it was pumped to them. The CPC had distributed 17,000 metric tons of the 20,000 metric tons, Dissanayake said.
The remaining 3,000 metric tons has not been distributed, he said.
Petroleum Minister of Sri Lanka Susil Premajayantha yesterday said the pooer performance of the alleged substandard fuel was due to the mixing of fuel with rain water residue in the fuel tanks in the respective filling stations.
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JVP parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake told a press conference that the reason behind the sale of substandard fuel was due to a massive fraud that had taken place when importing fuel.
He said that the procedures outlined by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) when importing fuel have not been followed when importing a stock of 20,000 metric tons of fuel last month.
He said that when tenders for fuel shipments have to be called 35 days earlier, the Ministry had called for tenders on May 5 and opened the tenders on May 25 to import 20,000 metric tons of fuel to be supplied by June 10. Due to time constraints many companies have not applied.
The Ministry Secretary had then unanimously decided and imported the stock through a company from the United Arab Emirates.
Dissanayake said that while fuel imported to the country are tested for their quality at the Kolonnawa refinery and the 20,000 metric tons imported had been revealed to be of low quality than the usual supplies.
The Ministry had initially refused permission to unload the stock, but had later granted permission for the shipment to be unloaded and distributed.
This substandard fuel caused problems in vehicles once it was pumped to them. The CPC had distributed 17,000 metric tons of the 20,000 metric tons, Dissanayake said.
The remaining 3,000 metric tons has not been distributed, he said.
Petroleum Minister of Sri Lanka Susil Premajayantha yesterday said the pooer performance of the alleged substandard fuel was due to the mixing of fuel with rain water residue in the fuel tanks in the respective filling stations.
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