Official says UL awarded advertisement contracts without due diligence

• Unauthorised employees approved contacts 

By Maleesha Sulthanagoda 

SriLankan Airlines awarded advertisement contracts without rigour or diligence, a top official from the national carrier on Thursday told the Presidential Council of Inquiry (PCoI) appointed to probe allegations of fraud and misconduct at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka Ltd.

SriLankan Airlines Senior Marketing Manager Sidath Perera, testifying before the PCoI, provided evidence on advertisement tenders and contracts between 2006 and 2018. It was evident to the PCoI that the airline awarded some of its contracts to Kuma Stickers Ltd. and other companies without the required documents or proper calls for quotations. 

The holding site contract in Kalentissa worth Rs. 6 million, which was awarded to Kuma Stickers Ltd, was signed off by a Grade 10 employee. 

According to the company guidelines, approval for contracts over Rs. 5 million should be given by an employee who is Grade 11 or above. The agreement being signed by a Grade 10 employee according to the PCoI should be considered a violation of the company guidelines.  

Adding to the suspicion, the evidence provided also mentioned that the contract extension deal after the agreement term ended had no request for further extension filed by either of the two companies. The signed contract extension was worth the same as the original agreement. Although in the original agreement the Rs. 6 million figure included the construction of a billboard frame, the extension contract did not, and the Rs. 6 million figure also did not get reduced. When the PCoI asked whether the airline bargained with the advertiser, Perera said that they pay mainly for the location, assuring that the price did not usually get reduced.