10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe

Jathika Jana balawegaya· Anuradhapura· 17 December 2024 ·Oral question: Oral Question: White Onion Fraud and Trade Ministry Investigation (Q.52/2024)

Public FinanceCorruption & Governance Reform
AI summary generated by gpt-5.5

Wasantha Samarasinghe stated that Sathosa had conducted an inquiry into the alleged fraud and that a related criminal case was before the Welisara Court, limiting what could be disclosed in Parliament due to sub judice considerations. He said the available information indicated irregular pricing instructions, including sales at Rs. 135 despite a Sathosa price of Rs. 355, and argued that such actions would have required political direction, calling for action against the responsible political authority.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, the Member’s second supplementary asks whether we can decide there is a financial fraud by looking at information or must we wait for court. Sathosa has conducted an inquiry and a report is available for the Member’s perusal. Also, there is a criminal case in the Welisara Court. We cannot divulge all internal details here, as per the traditions of this House regarding sub judice matters. But since the Member asked, we have given sufficient information. As he says, price reductions like this cannot happen without political direction. Buying at Rs. 110 and selling at Rs. 135 when Sathosa’s price was Rs. 355 at the time, and changing the computer entry to issue a Rs. 135 price—such instructions must come from political authority. If measures are not taken against that political authority—

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Tuesday, 17 December 2024 ·No. 1734685396083959 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 17 December 2024. No. 1734685396083959. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/18092