Scums and scams

Saturday 17th September, 2022

Hardly a day passes, in this country, without a corrupt deal being reported. Issues crop up at such a pace that nobody can keep track of them, and the crooks who fatten their bank accounts by causing huge losses to the state coffers get off scot-free.Chairman of state-owned Litro Gas Muditha Peiris, and former COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) Prof. Charitha Herath have locked horns over an alleged LPG scam. The latter insists that the severe cooking gas shortage that made consumers languish in long queues for days on end was due to a tug-of-war between two groups that enrich themselves at the expense of the public, and the subsequent procurement of gas with World Bank funds was tainted by irregularities. Peiris has sought to pooh-pooh Herath’s allegation.

Herath has reiterated the damning allegation against Litro and its bigwigs. He disclosed the alleged scam while speaking at a public event in Kandy recently. He said a contract awarded to a company to import gas had been cancelled by a Litro Chairman, and the resultant stand-off had led to protracted gas queues; subsequently, the World Bank had provided USD 70 million for gas imports, and the government contributed USD 20 million, he said, claiming that the company which had been prevented from supplying gas resumed LPG imports through a proxy at USD 129 a metric ton although gas fetched only USD 96 in the world market at the time. The loss due to the corrupt gas deal amounted to Rs. 1,300 million, Prof. Hearth said, calling for a probe. Disputing this claim, the Litro Chairman has said there has been no wrongdoing on the part of his company. Who is telling us the truth?

Prof. Herath is quite au fait with irregularities at state institutions, having had privileged access to financial documents and probe reports, while he was the COPE Chairman. He also has no reason to utter mistruths about Litro, or any other state-owned institution for that matter, to mislead the public. He is not known to seek cheap publicity, and has a reputation for backing his arguments, claims, allegations and assertions with facts and figures. Sadly, this cannot be said about the heads of state-owned ventures, which have become dens of thieves. There are, of course, some honest chairpersons and senior officials, but they are the exception that prove the rule. Over all, public officials, especially political appointees, cannot be expected to tell the public the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, where allegations of corruption against them and their political masters are concerned. Integrity is certainly not a virtue they cherish, and accountability is anathema to them.

It has now been revealed that Litro, under a previous chairman, spent as much as Rs. 20 million on a legal battle to prevent the Auditor General from scrutinising its accounts! Thankfully, it failed in its endeavour, but no action was taken against those who wasted public funds to the tune of Rs. 20 million! No state institution should be allowed to place itself above the Auditor General.

That said, it should be added that one should keep an open mind anent the allegations against Litro. The incumbent Litro Chairman claims to have documentary proof to substantiate his claims, and he flaunts some documents whenever he appears on television and tries to defend himself and his company. It is however natural that serious doubts have arisen in the minds of people about the procurement of cooking gas as well as other fossil fuels. The onus is on the government to order an investigation into the very serious allegations that the former COPE Chairman has made. Let it be urged not to appoint ad hoc committees for that purposes, for they invariably clear the culprits with links to the government. It has to get cracking because those who have allegedly carried out the gas scam are said to have helped themselves to some of the World Bank funds allocated for LPG procurement.

The COPE should look into its former Chairman’s allegations against Litro, and make its proceedings open to the media so that nothing can be swept under the carpet. The government is obviously trying to prevent corrupt deals from being exposed by parliamentary watchdog committees as evident from its refusal to reappoint Prof. Herath as the COPE Chairman.