Goods Receiving Officer at Parliament remanded for bribery

By Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya and Yohan Perera  

The Goods Receiving Officer at the Parliament Supply and Service unit, who was arrested by Bribery Commission officials at Kaduwela while accepting a bribe of Rs.60,000 from a food supplier, was remanded yesterday till September 18.  

The bribe had been given to prevent the Goods Receiving Officer rejecting a stock of food supplied daily by the supplier, on the basis that they were not suitable for consumption.  

The Goods Receiving Officer has allegedly damaged around 50kilos of fruit items brought to Parliament from the supplier since he had not paid the promised amount. The officer was arrested on Thursday when he was accepting the amount promised for two months earlier this year.  

The suspect was remanded after being produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate.  

Meanwhile, Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dassanayake when contacted by Daily Mirror confirmed that a receiving officer attached to the supplies department had been arrested but said details about the incident were not know yet. “Police informed us about the arrest but they did not come out with details yet”, he said.