Resume bunkering business with LMSL assets, say CPC trade unions
by Gamini WARUSHAMANA
[email protected]
The Supreme Court has ruled that the transaction involving the
sale of 90% shares of Lanka Marine Services (Pvt) Ltd to John Keells
Holdings Ltd and the sale of land at Bloemendhal Road without a
valuation and Cabinet approval was entered into without lawful authority
and was illegal, unlawful and arbitrary.
The judgment delivered by Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva with Justices
N. G. Amaratunga and Jagath Balapatabendi agreeing held that the
fundamental right to equality and equal protection of the law of the
petitioner and Presidential Advisor Vasudeva Nanayakkara was infringed.
The Court in its findings noted that in the said transaction, John
Keells Holdings Ltd had worked hand in glove with the former chairman of
the PERC P. B. Jayasundera.
Ceylon Petroleum Company (CPC) trade unions are agitating to resume
the bunkering business using the assets of Lanka Marine Service Limited
(LMSL) which the Supreme Court ordered to return to the Sri Lanka Ports
Authority (SLPA).
The CPC Common Service Union in a letter addressed to President
Mahinda Rajapaksa has called for the bunkering business to be made a
State monopoly again under the CPC.
Prior to the fraudulent privatisation of LMSL in 2002, it was a
monopoly business of the CPC. The unions said that this highly
profitable business should not be handed over to any private sector
company.
A spokesman for the union said that the huge profit that the CPC
could earn on the bunkering business would enable the CPC to face the
crude oil price fluctuations in the international market and keep the
petroleum price in the country stable.
Around 300 ships pass by Sri Lanka daily. If we can supply oil for 50
ships per day, we could earn around Rs. 500 million or approximately
half of the total daily fuel bill of the country, the letter said.
The union pointed out that since privatisation is not in keeping with
the Mahinda Chintana, the government should take immediate steps to
prevent any private company acquiring the LMSL properties that the
Supreme Court ordered to be returned to the Sri Lanka Ports Authority.
On March 1, 1993 Lanka Marine Services (Pvt) Ltd (LMS) was
incorporated in Sri Lanka as a fully owned subsidiary of the
Government-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).
In 2002 John Keells Holdings Ltd (JKH) acquired a 90% share of LMS in
an agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka, JKH, CPC and the Sri
Lanka Ports Authority. LMS consolidated its market leadership while
continuing to develop and expand the Sri Lankan bunkering market. |
