19 April 2022 10:51 pm
SriLankan Airlines would be summoned before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) regarding the plans to lease 21 flights, COPE Chairman Charitha Herath said today.
He told Parliament that he discussed the matter with the Auditor General and decided to summon SriLankan Airlines before the COPE.
"We will summon SriLankan Airlines and obtain information on the matter and provide a report in Parliament," he said.
The MP said this in response to a question raised by former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who said that SriLankan was planning to lease 21 flights despite reports of COPE Chairman Charitha Herath that the Airline was loss making and it should be sold out.
State Minister D.V. Chanaka said there was no immediate plan to lease the said flights and that a proposal has been made to lease out flights in place of flights whose lease period was to expire.
The Minister said SriLankan was profitable now and that it had not obtained government funds for the last eight months. "SriLankan has not obtained any funds from the government during the last eight months. We will not use state funds to lease out the said flights," he said.
Mr. Wickremesinghe said officials were misleading the minister and added that SriLankan still owed to local banks.
"If they are misleading the minister, the director board should be removed," he said.(Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)