Hon. T. B. Sarath

¶ 01 There are 468,696 dairy cows. From these two types of livestock, the country produces between 370–380 million litres of milk annually, which is 47.42 percent of requirement. We import 61.4 percent of our need, spending more than Rs. 70 billion per year. To avert this situation, this Honourable Parliament initiated a project from 2014. All approvals for the project’s full implementation were signed off by the then Ministry of Economic Development under Hon. Namal Rajapaksa and Hon. Basil Rajapaksa. Through this process, the country has suffered a loss of Rs. 2,110.3 million, which cannot be recovered.

¶ 02 In the second phase to import 15,000 dairy cows, the same tender procedure used earlier was supposedly followed. However, where earlier the cost per cow was Rs. 478,178, under the repeated tender it rose to Rs. 583,165 per cow. No fresh tender was called, and no Procurement Committee recommendation exists, yet the unit price increased. This is a project that blatantly wasted and stole public funds.

¶ 03 In our district, there is a farm with 111,111 head. At present, it produces 750–850 litres of milk a day. However, the imported cattle were not taken to the NLDB farm. At Welikanda farm, only the Kilarry (Sahiwal) variety remains; today it is 350 in number. Those imported animals were not taken to these farms. In Kandakadu and Trincomalee-Madhu areas, across 4,000 acres, these animals were not settled. These farms still struggle depending on local cows. Despite spending Rs. 2,110.3 million of public money, not a single imported cow was given to these farms. Ridigama farm received 2,500 animals; none were sent to other state farms. Others were distributed to political associates. The government incurred about Rs. 200,000 per cow; the balance burden falls on the dairy farmer. Of these, 150 cows went to Lakshman Wasantha Perera in Matale; another 50 cows were taken by a Minister from Monaragala. Thus, Rs. 300 lakhs of public funds benefited one person through 150 cows at roughly Rs. 200,000 each.

¶ 04 These were Ministers and former MPs from the 2010–2015 and 2015–2020 governments. Mr. Lakshman Wasantha Perera is a former MP and Deputy Minister. They registered the nation’s wealth under their own names. Later, Minister P. Harrison of Anuradhapura took over; why whitewash him? He, too, committed theft with these cattle. From 2014 to 2020, this project was used to plunder public money. There were many such projects.

¶ 05 The Ministry of Housing Development gave Rs. 30 billion in loans to 67,000 people. Only Rs. 4 billion has been recovered; Rs. 26 billion remains unrecovered. In Hambantota alone, 2,400 loans were given during 2015–2019; they cannot be collected. Although the loan amount was said to be Rs. 500,000, beneficiaries received Rs. 80,000, Rs. 100,000, or Rs. 120,000. Now collections cannot be done, yet Rs. 26 billion of national wealth has been expended with no recovery. Not due to one fraud, but by large-scale rackets across ministries, the country went bankrupt by 2022. The people did not suddenly become idle; rather, the country was bankrupted by massive fraud, corruption, and malpractice. When we speak of it, they claim it was done by the “bull,” not the handler—seeking to whitewash the handlers. We can clearly see it was done by the handlers.

¶ 06 Because of such grand-scale fraud, the people suffer in extreme distress. Therefore, every rupee stolen must be traced, and the law applied to all who stole, wasted, or committed corruption. We thank the COPE Chairman and all who pursue these frauds. COPE has become a toothless dog; therefore, we propose to equip COPE with new powers to impose the highest penalties—turning it from toothless to one with teeth.

¶ 07 Thank you.