JVP Leader makes explosive revelation in Parliament, tables secret New Fortress agreement

By Saman Indrajith

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake made an explosive revelation in Parliament yesterday, noting that the agreement for the LNG Plant in Kerawalapitiya had not been signed with New Fortress Energy of the US but with a separate company, registered under the name of NFE Sri Lanka Power Holding LLC.

Tabling a copy of the agreement, the JVP leader said: “For more than a month, requests were made for tabling this agreement in Parliament. However, it was not done. Therefore, I will table this agreement because Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Power Minister Gamini Lokuge have failed to do so.”

MP Dissanayake said that the Cabinet had granted permission for an agreement with New Fortress Energy, but the agreement had been signed with NFE Sri Lanka Power Holding LLC.

“The Cabinet was misled,” Dissanayake said, adding Article 13/1 clearly stated that the agreement could not be disclosed to the people for a period of two years without the consent of both parties to it.

“The national assets belong to the people. Such assets are not the property of the Finance Minister or the Ministry secretary. Therefore people have a right to information about such deals. We have repeated asked for a copy of the agreement. Other opposition MPs too have asked for it. We sought to obtain a copy under the provisions of the RTI Act, but the government did not give it to us. We table this copy of the agreement so that the MPs could read it,” MP Dissanayake said.