The Hon. Eranga Gunasekara
Hon. Eranga Gunasekara said the new Government’s position on bar permits is aligned with concerns raised about corruption, noting that although it could have resumed issuing permits after coming to power, the President halted the process. He stated that names connected to alleged bribery in the issuance of permits had been tabled in Parliament by the Chief Government Whip, and that investigations into the matter had now begun.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 That is exactly what I am saying. Hon. Member, in my view you should consider what we are doing. It has been two and a half months since we came to power. We have also presented the Budget. Hon. Member, through that Budget presentation, our perspective aligns with yours; we have no issue with that. If we wanted, we could have resumed issuing bar permits under this government. But the President halted that at the outset. While we recognize the right of individuals to consume alcohol, as you noted, bribes have been involved here. Immediately upon coming in, the Chief Government Whip from our side tabled the relevant names in Parliament. As you said, that in itself is somewhat unusual. What should we do beyond that? We must commence the relevant investigations. We have now begun those investigations. As you said—
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 20 February 2025 ·No. 1740657427093848 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Eranga Gunasekara. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 20 February 2025. No. 1740657427093848. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/16506