Parliamentarian Mujibur Rahuman, participating in a media briefing held yesterday at the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) headquarters, expressed the following views:
“The Customs Professionals’ Association has informed the President, through a letter, requesting an inquiry into the incident where 323 containers were released from the Customs unlawfully. Following this, opposition MPs also continuously raised the matter in Parliament. Acting on the notification from the Customs Professionals’ Association, the President appointed a committee to investigate the incident.
That committee submitted its report to the President after several months. According to the report, out of the 323 containers, 309 had been released from the port without inspection. Out of those 309, 159 containers had been issued with red notices—containers that must undergo physical examination. But the report states that none of those containers were examined. Furthermore, a stock of containers that had been issued with yellow notices—containers that must mandatorily go through scanning—were also released without any inspection.
The Sri Lanka Customs itself issued a media release confirming that these 309 containers were released based on the instructions given by Minister Bimal Rathnayake to the Director General of Customs.
Moreover, the committee appointed by the President to investigate the release of the 323 containers has leveled allegations against the then-Director General of Customs, Mr. Seewali Arukgoda, for neglecting his supervisory duties and instead engaging in the release of these containers. Despite such allegations, the government has gone ahead and appointed Seewali Arukgoda as the Director General of Customs. A complaint has already been submitted against him to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC).
The National People’s Power (NPP) government, before coming into power, declared that they would put an end to fraud and corruption. Yet, the government has not taken any steps regarding the allegations against Mr. Arukgoda. Instead of verifying whether a person facing corruption allegations is suitable for office, the President continues to appoint his close associates and allies of his party to top positions in the government. What this reveals is that if someone is close to the President or his party, corruption allegations against them do not matter.
It also shows that the President has ignored the promises made in his election manifesto after assuming power. The current President is operating just like the former Presidents of past governments—there is no difference. Though he repeatedly speaks about upholding the rule of law, in practice, he appoints officials facing corruption allegations to high positions.
Furthermore, the losses suffered by the country due to the unlawful release of these 309 containers have not yet been calculated. However, when it comes to calculating and publicizing the expenses incurred by the President’s opponents during their foreign travels, the government acts swiftly and even takes such matters to court. This clearly shows that the government makes decisions favorable to its own allies. Yet, despite the report confirming the damages caused by the illegal release of the containers, no steps have been taken so far to recover those losses.”
