Hon. Thilina Samarakoon

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, as a COPE Member, I am pleased to speak as we table COPE’s Fourth Report of the 10th Parliament under Standing Order 120.

¶ 02 During this debate, Opposition MPs made many assumptions—predicting issues around paddy procurement tenders, container releases at Customs, and outcomes of anti-corruption efforts. We, however, are moving holistically—education, health, justice, economy—pursuing systemic reform. COPE’s mandate, together with its ethical authority, is being exercised by the Chair and our team.

¶ 03 COPE was founded with certain expectations, but its use varied over time. Under former Chair Hon. Sunil Handunnetti and now under this Government, we are pursuing the public interest, ensuring State resources are used efficiently, institutions reach their missions, and the law is enforced swiftly to prevent future corruption.

¶ 04 There are 457 institutions under our remit. While we cannot examine them all at once, we have requested written responses based on the Auditor General’s reports, and brought 14 institutions before COPE so far: National Youth Services Council; National Gem and Jewellery Authority; Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment; Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Pvt) Ltd.; Land Reforms Commission (LRC); Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital; Mahapola Higher Education Scholarship Trust Fund; University of Sabaragamuwa; University of Sri Jayewardenepura; State Timber Corporation; Sri Lanka Ports Authority; Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka; Geological Survey and Mines Bureau; and the Ceylon Electricity Board.

¶ 05 A notable finding: several institutions have acted outside their founding legal purposes. The LRC is a prime example. Under the Land Reform Law, it was never meant to engage in fertilizer production. Yet Rs. 350 million of public funds were channeled through LRC into a so-called organic fertilizer project without any project report or feasibility study. About Rs. 302 million was expended with no national benefit—clear misuse of funds.

¶ 06 We also found, per the 2022/2023 audit, that 25 acres at Hantana/Uragala Estate were sold to a private company for Rs. 101,109—equating to Rs. 28.72 per perch—then re-sold as residential plots reportedly at around Rs. 600,000 per perch, yielding about Rs. 2.2 billion. These are the kinds of past actions now lecturing us on tenders and corruption.

¶ 07 As at 31 March 2024, under employee welfare schemes, LRC employees had been allotted more than 50 acres collectively, with similar patterns elsewhere. We are exposing such issues not to harass officials, but to reveal the political authority behind such decisions.

¶ 08 We have engaged the Minister and Deputy Minister of Lands; steps are being taken to correctly value lands, rationalize staffing, inventory the land bank properly, and present project proposals so LRC’s lands are productively deployed in the national interest. We will continue to expose malpractices and drive reforms across social, economic, political, and legal spheres to steer the country toward a positive direction. Thank you.