The
JVP yesterday said that Parliament was a hive of waste
corruption and irregularities and no tangible action had been
taken to tackle the crisis.
In response to a query raised by The Island,
JVP heavyweight Lal Kantha acknowledged that the pathetic
situation in the House had contributed to the overall economic
chaos in the country, now struggling to cope with adverse
economic conditions. "We have raised this issue both in and
outside Parliament," he said, accusing the top heavy Rajapaksa
administration of turning a blind eye to rampant corruption.
The Auditor General had faulted the House over
several issues including an UNDP funded project to modernise its
IT network and increasing food waste. Wijedasa Rajapakshe, MP
and the outspoken chief of COPE, had publicly accused Parliament
of neglecting its sacred duty of ensuring financial discipline
and this lapse had contributed to the current status of
financial chaos.
The JVP yesterday called a press briefing at the
National Library Services Board where it attacked the government
over what it called the worsening economic outlook and its
indifference to the plight of the people.
JVP Parliamentary Group Leader Wimal Weerawansa,
MP, Vijiha Herath, MP and Tilvin Silva, the General Secretary of
the party joined yesterday's briefing.
Lal Kantha said that once he raised this issue
in the House, Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara wanted him to make
his allegations in writing. "I promptly did that but instead of
investigating the allegations, interested parties wanted to
identify the person who passed the information to us," he said.
The outspoken MP said that the parliamentary
watchdog committee on public enterprises exposed large scale
waste, corruption and irregularities in the public sector.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), too,
revealed unprecedented shortcomings in the Inland Revenue
Department. According to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and
the Auditor General, the Inland Revenue Department had
fraudulently refunded VAT to the tune of Rs. 3.6 billion during
the period 15.11.2002 to 15.08.2004. A subsequent fraudulent VAT
refund of Rs 315 million had raised the total misappropriated
amount to Rs 3.9 billion.
Lal Kantha said that the failure to punish the
politicians and officials identified as guilty, reflected badly
on the President.
Tilvin Silva said that they would launch a
week-long protest campaign today to pressure the government to
tackle corruption.
Acknowledging that such protests would be
counter-productive and in fact would be to the advantage of what
he called reactionary forces, Lal Kantha said that they may have
no option but to take to the streets. He revealed that they
hadn't gone all out against the government as they didn't want
to destabilise the Rajapaksa administration engaged in a
decisive battle against the LTTE. But the government's total
failure to tackle corruption would prompt the JVP to change that
attitude, he said.
