COPE directs SLIC to ensure Litro Gas appears before Parliamentary Oversight Committee

Friday, 9 July 2021 02:16 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

SLIC owns 99% shares in Litro Gas Lanka and Litro Gas Terminal
Both institutions have refused Govt. audit and sought court order

The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) yesterday instructed Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) to ensure that Litro Gas Lanka Ltd. and Litro Gas Terminal Lanka Ltd. appear before the Committee and are subject to Government audit.

Committee Chairman and MP Charitha Herath said as SLIC owns 99% of the shares, the Board of Directors of the Corporation can take a formal decision in this regard and ensure that Litro Gas complies with the instructions.

He told the Committee that Litro Gas Lanka and Litro Gas Terminal Lanka have gone to court stating that they cannot be audited by the Government and as the matter is pending before court, it is inappropriate to discuss these institutions for now.

However, other members of the COPE were of the view that these institutions should be audited by the Government as SLIC owns 99% of the shares in these two institutions and that these institutions should be summoned to the COPE.

The Committee instructed SLIC to expedite the summoning of Litro Gas and Litro Gas Terminal to the Committee.

MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake questioned SLIC Chairman as to which law firm would represent Litro in this legal situation and how much it would cost, but the Chairman said he could not give a clear answer as officials of Litro were not here.

Dissanayake said that officials of Litro need to be summoned to the COPE Committee and it should be done expeditiously.

The SLIC officials stated that although they were responsible for the shares of Litro, they were not responsible for the administration of Litro and would sell the shares if they incurred a loss.

Ministers Mahinda Amaraweera and Sarath Weerasekara, State Ministers Susil Premajayantha, Indika Anuruddha, Ajith Nivard Cabraal and MPs Anura Dissanayake, S.M. Marikkar, Jagath Pushpakumara, Rauf Hakeem, Harsha de Silva, S. Rasamanikkam, and Premanath C. Dolawatta were present at the meeting.