The Hon. Susil Ranasinghe

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, let me summarize.

¶ 02 It is an LRC land of 76 acres in Kurunegala suitable for both paddy and upland crops. In 2000 it was vested in the Ministry of Agriculture. At that time the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Lands was Mr. Salinda Dissanayake. Subsequently, about Rs. 53 million from the BOI was spent to develop it: a rice milling machine and other equipment were installed. Thereafter it was leased to the Hiriyala Farmers’ Company, whose Chairperson is Ms. Manjula Disanayake, a former North Western Provincial Councillor and later an MP.

¶ 03 Ordinarily, annual lease rent should be 4% of the undeveloped value. However, the then President wrote directing it to be reduced to 2%. Even then, rent was not paid. Leases should be revised every five years, often increasing by over 50%, but in 2007 another presidential direction stopped even five-yearly revisions. Still, rent was not paid. With no lease revenue, with the CG of Lands’ approval the lease right was mortgaged to Lankaputra Bank. The loan was not repaid; rent wasn’t paid either. The land was to pass to the bank, but through court proceedings a settlement prevented that transfer. Some recovery actions followed. Meanwhile the land was unlawfully subleased, which is illegal under the lease. It was subleased for Rs. 150,000 per month to use machinery, and later to a new company at about Rs. 400,000 per month. Later, even interim subleasing was regularized with CG Lands’ approval to facilitate recovery of dues. Many actors were involved: a Deputy Minister, an MP, a former President, a former President again, and lands officials. These are classic white-collar robberies.

¶ 04 There is a dispute now on how to repossess the land. It is complex, and a committee has been appointed to determine whether it can be taken back to the State and how.

¶ 05 Despite Rs. 53 million BOI spending in 2000, there has been no contribution to the economy, no lease revenue, and lease revisions were prevented. We are exploring legal steps to re-vest the land in the State.