Parliamentarians vehicle fiasco:

PM suspends funds released by Treasury

by Manjula Fernando

Ministers whose names were linked to the new luxury vehicles fiasco, came up with various excuses with regard to their names being mentioned in the vehicle list submitted to Parliament last week.

The paper presented in Parliament which sought approval to release Treasury funding for Ministry projects including the purchase of new luxury vehicles, was submitted by Media Minister Gayantha Karunatilleke on behalf of Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

While Deputy Ministers Ranjan Ramanayake and Harsha de Silva disassociated themselves from the list, saying there was no need for new vehicles at this point of time, when sections of the masses had suffered immense hardship due to multiple disasters both natural and man-made. However, a total of 21 Ministry Secretaries had conveyed that their Ministries required new official vehicles.

Later Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe intervened and suspended the proposed allocation of Rs. 1,175 million for the purchase of these vehicles. These vehicles were for 12 Ministers, 10 Deputy Ministers and five State Ministers.

Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructue Minister Harin Fernando said, his name ended up in the list, since the Ministry Secretary had responded to a circular dated 4.04.2016, inquiring if there was a requirement for new official vehicles for Ministers and the Deputies.

"My Ministry is a new Ministry, I am using a vehicle previously used by Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, while the Deputy Minister has no official vehicle. There was a requirement to obtain new vehicles. It was wrong to imply that we asked for new vehicles from the government. There was an internal communique to which the Ministry Secretary responded, that is all," he responded when contacted by the Sunday Observer.

Deputy Minister of Mass Media and Parliamentary Affairs Karunaratne Paranavithana said the Prime Minister had suspended the release of funds from the Treasury to buy new vehicles until compensation and relief to the people affected by the Salawa calamity is finalized. "Hence, Ministers will have to be satisfied with vehicles used by former ministers for a couple of months," he said.

The Deputy Minister said at this time of grief, the government had to heed to the public outcry against approving supplementary estimates to purchase new vehicles for Ministers, although it was a regular administrative move.

Minister Fernando said, these vehicles will not be private property but property owned by the state. "Hundreds of state-owned vehicles have gone missing during the latter part of the previous regime, but no one talks about this," the Minister lamented.

The costs of those vehicles mentioned in Parliament were calculated after tax. "To acquire official vehicles, the Treasury insisted in following proper procedure through Parliament as well as paying taxes, something that was practised in the breach by the previous regime," he said.

"This situation would never have come to light, if it had happened in the past," he added.

Social Empowerment and Welfare Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake said, his Ministry too received the circular but had returned it as there was no need for new luxuries at this juncture. "We must follow the example set by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. They were using vehicles that were used by the earlier incumbents."

The government imposed added taxes on most vehicular imports last month, to discourage imports to ease heavy traffic on the road. The public including three wheeler drivers were furious over the decision. It was at a time when the people had barely recovered from the 'VAT shock'. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake later responded that it was only a temporary measure. Deputy Minister Paranavithana clarified the proposed allocations to the Ministry of Field Martial Sarath Fonseka, saying it was for several vehicles and not just one. "Field Martial Fonseka's Ministry is a new Ministry and there were no resources allocated to this Ministry. The funds have been allocated for three vehicles and the criticisms against him were unfair," he said.

Cabinet spokesperson Minister Gayantha Karunatilleke during last week's Cabinet briefing defended the decision to obtain Rs.1.2billion from the Treasury to purchase a new fleet of over 33 luxury vehicles. Minister Rajitha Senaratne justified the move, adding the Ministers were on the go on official duty and therefore needed four-wheel vehicles to facilitate their job.

However, the Government came under heavy criticism over the move. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe suspended the funds being released by the Treasury to buy the luxury vehicles late last week, even though the supplementary estimates were presented to Parliament earlier.

Refer to graphic for full list of Ministries which called for new vehicles.