The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, the Hon. Member’s question concerns SLIIT. Certain details required for the reply are not available with the Mahapola Higher Education Scholarship Trust Fund, resulting in some incompleteness; however, action is being taken to obtain them. My reply is as follows:

¶ 02 (a) (i) The then Ministry of Internal and International Trade and Food has not provided funds. Funds were provided by the Mahapola Higher Education Scholarship Trust Fund for construction of buildings.

¶ 03 (ii) Amount provided: Rs. 373 million.

¶ 04 (iii) Not known. (Details are not available with the Lalith Athulathmudali Mahapola Higher Education Scholarship Trust Fund.)

¶ 05 (iv) Not known. (Details are not available with the Trust Fund.)

¶ 06 (v) Not known.

¶ 07 (vi) Not known.

¶ 08 (b) As per Cabinet decision No. CM/17/0956/701/011 dated 24.05.2017: 1. To recognize the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology as a non-governmental institution with autonomy; and 2. To ensure that it does not come under any Ministry.

¶ 09 Accordingly, by Gazette Extraordinary No. 2026/35 dated 06.07.2017, it was notified that from 16.05.2017 SLIIT does not come under any Ministry. Therefore, this Ministry cannot take action in that regard. I table the Gazette for the Library.

¶ 10 Further, some information sought is not with us; hence answers “Not known” were given for parts (a)(v) and (a)(vi). Steps are being taken by the Mahapola Trust Fund; if necessary, we can inform you in due course.

¶ 11 In response to Supplementary Questions:

¶ 12 From inception, Mahapola undertook projects to augment income; SLIIT was one such project. Rs. 373 million was provided for construction. Until 2015, SLIIT was managed by a Board appointed by the Mahapola Trust Fund. However, by 2017, the then “good governance” Government led by Ranil Wickremesinghe and Maithripala Sirisena (with Hon. Sajith Premadasa also part of that Government) proceeded with arrangements without proper approvals. A purported agreement was executed without Ministry consent or Trust Fund decision. A Presidential Special Commission of Inquiry later recorded that the then Chief Justice K. Sripavan had not made such a decision in his chambers as was claimed; the Trust Fund had not been duly convened, necessitating amendment of the Mahapola Act to appoint a Chair other than the Chief Justice. No decision was taken to alienate Trust property or its subsidiary SLIIT. Despite that, the 2017 Cabinet granted approval, effectively regularizing what had been done in 2015. Those responsible must be held to account.

¶ 13 Regarding the financials, Rs. 408 million was paid back—drawn from SLIIT’s own retained earnings (about Rs. 1,069 million in 2015). The very funds of SLIIT were used to pay Mahapola, while SLIIT itself belonged to Mahapola. This is a grave irregularity. COPE has recommended legal action including complaints to the CID and the Bribery Commission. We are taking steps to ensure accountability, to restore Mahapola’s trusteeship and ownership of SLIIT, and to expand Mahapola scholarships and run affordable programmes for students using SLIIT’s income.