By Umesh Moramudali.
The United National Party (UNP) has accused the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) claiming that the CPC has lost Rs. 100 million by importing 40,000 metric tons of substandard fuel. The UNP General Secretary Tissa Athanayake also pointed out that the Petroleum Minister Susil Premjayantha should take the responsibility for the blunder that the CPC made in importing the substandard fuel from a black listed company.
Addressing a media briefing in Colombo today, UNP General Secretary Tissa Athanayake said it was for the third time the Ceylon Petroleum Cooperation has made a such blunder by importing substandard fuel and the Minister Sussil Premjayantha is trying to put the blame on others for the damages occurred due to the substandard fuel .
“CPC has recorded a loss of Rs.100 million by importing 40,000 metric tons of substandard fuel. Nearly 15 train engines, hundreds of buses and so many private vehicles have been damaged due to this. Minister Premajayantha now put the blame on the officials of the CPC for the importation of the fuel.
When the substandard fuel was imported in 2010, some of the CPC officials responsible for it were sent on compulsory leave.
“Minister at that time informed the Parliament that actions would be taken against the officials involved in the substandard fuel scandal . The Minister also pledged to compensate those who were affected due to the usage of substandard fuel . However, there was no action taken against them later and those officials are allowed to enjoy all special privileges provided by the CPC,” he said.
The UNP General Secretary also questioned, if the substandard fuel was imported from a black listed company why the Petroleum Minister didn’t take any action against those who were responsible of importing the inferior quality oil.
“ The fuel company Vitol has said that it didn’t make any blunder. Whereas the CPC also trying the cover up the issue by saying that the old pumps were used by the corporation to handle the fuel “ he said.
According to the UNP General Secretary, when UNP was in power before 1994 , the CPC remained as the huge profit maker but after 1994 the country’s premier oil corporation started experiencing losses due to mismanagement, and corruption . The CPC also incurred a loss of Rs. 200 billion due to the hedging agreement, the UNP general Secretary said.
