The Hon. Nalin Hewage
Nalin Hewage said Rs. 10.5 billion in unpaid excise dues remained outstanding, alleging that many arrears related to warehouses connected to former Ministers and MPs, though he declined to name individuals during the speech. He urged Members not to divert from the issue and argued that the Government’s current tax measures should be recognized as positive rather than criticized reflexively.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 We all know the list of names; there is no need to keep bringing them up. You and I both know who kept the money. If needed, I can list names starting from Johnston for you to hear. Both you and I know the facts, so I am not prepared to waste time. Rs. 10.5 billion in excise has been kept unpaid. Most of these dues are from the warehouses of former Ministers and former MPs. I remind you, Hon. Member, to keep that in mind. Therefore, I will not speak about that today. Rather than running around and avoiding the issue, I will focus on this matter. Even if we take it up, within five minutes our team, including Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe, will have addressed it.
¶ 02 Therefore, we request that, within the current context, this imposition of taxes be seen as a good measure. Do not attack the Government for everything and become petty; recognize good measures as such. With that request, I conclude.
¶ 03 Thank you.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Wednesday, 22 October 2025 ·No. 22638 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/12454
Cite as: The Hon. Nalin Hewage. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 22 October 2025. No. 22638. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/12454