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Last Updated : 2023-10-03 18:27:00
Tue, 03 Oct 2023 Today's Paper
Former Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama has sent the following clarification with reference to the news item titled “Illegal Deals Signed to Transfer SLIIT Assets to Private Entity: Amunugama,” which appeared on the front page of the Daily Mirror on August 3rd.
“I wish to state at the outset that I did not in my evidence before the Commission state what is attributed to me in the caption of the said
news item.
What I told the Commission was that Mr. Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, then Minister in charge of Mahapola and I as the then Minister of Higher Education merely signed as witnesses to the signatures of the transferor and transferee in the Agreements at a ceremonial occasion presided over by the Chief Justice who is the Chairman of the Mahapola Trust Fund in his chambers.
I categorically state that I was not responsible for the drafting or contents of the Agreements and reiterate that I merely signed as a witness.
Your news item that I allegedly “charged” that “two illegal agreements” led to the loss of Rs.48,000 million to the Mahapola trust fund is entirely false as I said no such thing.
In fact my evidence was to the contrary that this was a transaction between two State affiliated agencies and had been authorized by the governing bodies of both.
I also stated that these Agreements had been signed on 2015 and thereafter in 2017 the then Minister of Higher Education had presented a Cabinet paper seeking to re-examine these transactions which was rejected by the Cabinet.
Moreover, I adverted to the fact that SLIIT is a well managed and efficient institution which trains around 7,000 young persons annually in areas vital to the national economy and deserves to be encouraged”.
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