The UNP yesterday ridiculed the much publicized claim that there was a conspiracy to deny tax revenue to State coffers and it would directly affect the war on LTTE terror.

Dr. Jayalath Jayawardene, MP, said that this was far from the truth. The government was trying to deceive the people by claiming that reduction of taxes on petrol would deny the State the funds required to prosecute the war against the LTTE.

In an interview with The Sunday Island, the MP who had been accused of being an LTTE agent dismissed Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake’s statement that anyone who loved this country and support efforts to rid the country of terrorism wouldn’t deny taxes to the State.

The MP said that people would take the prime minister seriously if the government had genuinely made an effort to thwart tax frauds now running into billions of rupees, tackle waste and corruption and stop squandering taxpayers’ money on ruling party politicians and their henchmen.

Urging the ministers to study the 2007 annual report of Auditor General S. Swarnajothi recently tabled in Parliament, the outspoken MP said that it would reveal pathetic state of affairs regarding financial accountability.

Referring to Commerce Minister Bandula Gunawardene’s statement that decision on all financial matters were vested with the Cabinet and Parliament, Jayawardena said that had the Cabinet and Parliament met the challenging task of maintaining financial discipline, no one would have moved the judiciary.

``What would have happened if the SC didn’t cancel the controversial oil hedging deal between the CPC and foreign banks?’’ he asked. ``The country would have been forced to pay a colossal amount of money and the very survival of the economy would be at stake.’’

He challenged the government to reveal what action it had taken to investigate even waste, corruption and irregularities in Parliament. Recalling JVP MP Lal Kantha’s call to investigate shortcomings in the administration of the House, Jayawardena said that ruling coalition had failed in its duty.

Had public interests groups not gone before Supreme Court, deals like Lanka Marine Services (LMS), Water’s Edge and the Attidiya wetlands would be still in force.

The privatization of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC), too, wasn’t challenged by the government, he noted. The judgment in this case is awaited.

He challenged the government to reveal disciplinary action taken against politicians and officials responsible for corrupt deals revealed by COPE, the parliamentary watchdog committee then headed by Wijedasa Rajapakshe, MP.

The cancellation of the merger of the Eastern Province with the Northern Province in 2006 was one of the many decisions welcomed by the government, he said.

The government seemed only willing to accept rulings in favour of the administration, he said. Examples included the dismissal of the JVP bid to thwart Karuna’s entry to Parliament and their efforts to block elections before the setting up of the Constitutional Council.

Parliament didn’t even forward COPE reports to the Bribery Commission until a section of the media pointed out the inordinate delay in initiating action, he said. But the Bribery Commission hadn’t filed a single case against any of the suspects although the Supreme Court had speedily acted on the petitions received by the public.

On top of that the Bribery Commission had said that of the cases revealed by the COPE, 30 wouldn’t be investigated as they were outside its purview, he said. The bottom line was that this government had done absolutely nothing to investigate 30 cases.

He said that a report submitted by former Auditor General S. C. Mayadunne on tax fraud committed by revenue earning agencies to Parliament was never investigated. Mayadunne asserted that non-payment of taxes could be as high as Rs 389 billion but Parliament turned a blind eye to this devastating report.

Compared to this, Rs 4.2 billion Value Added Tax fraud was insignificant, he said, emphasizing that the government should go all out to collect revenue from those who manipulate the system. Unfortunately the Rajapaksa administration was targeting people who were trying to make ends meet, he said.

The MP said that if the government really wanted money to prosecute the war, ministers should set an example by giving up Rs 100,000 house rent allocation, limit overseas visits and at least curb wasteful expenditure of public funds.

He said that they couldn’t expect Parliament and Cabinet to spearhead a campaign against waste, corruption and irregularities against the backdrop of its failure at least to discipline the likes of Mervin Silva.

Had the MTV failed to move the Supreme Court, the National List MP would never have been forced to compensate the MTV which lost some valuable equipment due to an attack instigated by the politician in the Kelaniya police area.