1 August 2019 09:22 pm
D.P.A. Jayasinghe & Co. Director and actress Sabeetha Perera made a two and a half-hour long statement to the police unit of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) on corruption in the current administration on the building rented out to the Agriculture Ministry in 2017.
PCoI sources said she was asked to report to the police unit this morning but had requested permission to do so on Monday but had however reported to the police yesterday.
Although the Ministry had signed an agreement with D.P.A. Jayasinghe & Company on April 11, 2016, it did not shift to the building for more than 16 months but had paid a monthly rent of Rs.24.6 million.
It was also revealed that there was no date of termination in the lease agreement signed between the Ministry of Agriculture and D.P.A. Jayasinghe Company in 2016 on renting out the building.
Attorney Tanushka Gunawardena who prepared this agreement said both parties agreed to not have a termination clause. “Former Ministry Secretary B. Wijeratna told me that there was no need for a termination clause. I was entrusted with the preparation of the agreement by Upali Jayasinghe, owner of the D.P.A. Jayasinghe Company,” she said.
Under the agreement, the Ministry had agreed to pay some Rs.1.3 billion for five years. The Ministry of Agriculture had agreed to pay Rs.21 million + VAT and national building tax a month from April 2016 to April 2019. From April 2019 to April 2021 the Ministry was to pay Rs.24.1 million + VAT and national building tax a month. (Yoshitha Perera)
Video by Damith