Purchase of 300 cars under the microscope

by Ranil Wijayapala

Investigations will be launched soon on the purchase of 300 cars with poor fuel efficiency ordered by the Treasury at a cost of Rs. 1.68 billion, a few days before the Presidential election, Anti Corruption Committee Secretariat sources said.

The Secretariat has received information that the Treasury had placed the order for the Nissan Seder cars prior to the Presidential election and the vehicles were delivered recently. State officers who had received these cars for their use need to return them, the sources added.

“We are planning to commence investigations as to why such vehicles with very poor fuel efficiency were purchased with Treasury funds”, the official said.

The Indian made Nissan Seder cars which do less than six kilometres per one litre of petrol had cost Rs. 5.6 million whereas cars with a high fuel efficiency are available in the market for less than Rs. 5 million, according to information.

“For instance, the Toyota Aqua Hybrid car which does 25 km/per litre can be purchased at Rs. 5 million”, the sources said.

As most of the officers who received these vehicles are returning them, the Treasury officials involved had threatened them that they will not get a vehicle for another 10 years, the sources added.

“The Treasury has gone for the worst option by selecting vehicles ignoring energy saving, the environmental impact and saving public money”, the sources said.

The Secretariat has also received information about the Treasury purchasing hundreds of other vehicles including buses during the last few months ahead of the Presidential election for no apparent reason.