Lanka Sathosa responds to Anura Kumara’s statement on irregular purchase of 5000MT Sugar

Refuting the statement made by MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake on December 04 in Parliament that Sathosa Chairman made an irregular purchase of 5000MT Sugar from a close associate of himself and that of a VVIP soon as the Import duty was reduced, the Lanka Sathosa Ltd said the relevant procurement was carried out through Ministerial Procurement Committee (MPC).

In a statement, its Chairman Nushad M Perera said the procurement Committee was chaired by the Secretary to Ministry of Trade along with officials from the Ministry of Finance as well as Chairman of Lanka Sathosa as members. 

“In addition, a Technical committee sits along with the Procurement Committee. The technical committee consists of an Additional Secretary to Ministry of Trade, a senior official from Ministry of Agriculture, the Food Technologist of CWE and DGM Finance CWE Security,” he said.

He said the Sathosa makes all its purchases through government approved procurement guidelines commonly known as tenders.

“The said procurement of sugar was carried out on October 20, 2020 adhering to all procurement guidelines by the above committee and was the lowest quoted price for Sugar at the procurement tender (MPC/064), he stressed.

Moreover, the Chairman said the total purchased sugar quantity was 750 Metric tons which is the weekly consumption demand and not 5000MT as stated by the MP in Parliament. He clearly stated that at no time has there been any pressure exerted upon him by the President to make any purchases from anyone. 

“All purchases are made by following a clearly defined government procurement framework decided by a committee rather than one single individual,” he added.