The Hon. Chamara Sampath Dasanayake

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson, first, I wish to congratulate Police Inspector Nimal Premachandra, who retires after 40 years in service, 28 of them at Parliament, and to extend best wishes to former Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardena, who also retired yesterday.

¶ 02 Turning to the COPE report on the 15,000 dairy cattle advance: someone called us “rogue cattle” without naming names. I will name one: the present Chairman of the National Lotteries Board, Anton Perera, was then the Chief Accountant of the Ministry of Rural Economic Affairs—the ministry handling this cattle import project—while also drawing salaries as Accountant to the project and to an anti-corruption committee. He thus drew three salaries. He also allegedly retained the performance bond in a locker for a year until it lapsed—neither signing it to secure recovery nor cancelling to reclaim funds.

¶ 03 Now at the National Lotteries Board, he has, I allege, increased the sitting fee for draw panel participants from Rs. 7,500 to Rs. 25,000, money that otherwise supports the Mahapola scholarship fund. I urge COPE to summon these officials. This is daylight robbery. The Chairman himself now sits at draws, multiplying personal allowances.

¶ 04 This breeds public anger against Government and the State machinery. Officers who thrived under past administrations have now aligned with the present Government and lodge complaints against us.

¶ 05 Separately, the remanding of the Commissioner General of Prisons—on the basis of actions by internal officers—risks paralysing the State machinery. I urge the Minister of Justice to appoint a committee of retired officers to review, and to engage directly, as indiscriminate arrests of top administrators can demoralize institutions. Missteps in implementing the Presidential Pardon circular also created confusion. Let us correct errors without crippling governance.

¶ 06 I am not attacking the Government; I point out errors to fix them. On local authorities law, I earlier urged amendments to enable timely elections and avoid present confusion. Today, the Commissioner General of Prisons and an ASP are in remand; whatever the ASP’s issues, remanding the head has serious implications. I request a fair inquiry and caution against pressuring serving officials merely to build cases.

¶ 07 Thank you for the time.