The government yesterday warned dissident SLFP MP Mangala Samaraweera, MP, that his involvement in several high profile transactions during his tenure as a minister in the CBK administration would be probed.

Power Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage yesterday said that the CID had launched an inquiry. Joining Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena at an Information Department press briefing, Aluthgamage dismissed Samaraweera’s recent claim that he wouldn’t join the government as he didn’t want to be a further burden to the taxpayer.

Samaraweera was recently quoted as saying that he wouldn’t want to be the 110th minister in the ruling coalition. A smiling Aluthgamage said that had Samaraweera returned as a minister he would cost as much as ten ministers. Aluthgamage compared re-appointment to expansion of the Cabinet to 120 ministers.

Accusing Samaraweera of an extravagant lifestyle at the taxpayers’ expense, the non-Cabinet minister said that his former colleague had exploited his position to his advantage. But nothing could have been as wasteful as spending Rs 120 million to refurbish his offices, he said, detailing several other transactions.

He said that Samaraweera seemed to be the only one still shedding tears for LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran killed by the army. UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, one of the strongest critics of the war effort and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, too, had congratulated the President over armed forces’ triumph over the LTTE.

Wickremesinghe, who had campaigned against the government abroad, reluctantly appreciated the unmatched military victory but Samaraweera continued to turn a blind eye to reality, the minister said. He said that Samaraweera would claim that he was being targeted over his criticism of the Rajapaksa administration. He asserted that the MP was alone.

Asked whether UNP dissident Tourism Minister Milinda Moragoda would be in trouble over a landmark Supreme Court ruling on the SLIC (Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation) based on COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) findings, the minister said that the SC hadn’t issued a direct order against Moragoda. Acknowledging that the SLIC transaction had been detrimental to the interests of the national economy, both Aluthgamage and Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena emphasised that no one should be condemned on COPE findings.

They said that some members of the COPE had been in an undue haste to reveal findings made by the parliamentary watchdog committee. They said that though they wanted a sub committee to study COPE findings, an interested party went public with controversial findings.

Aluthgamage rejected charges that Moragoda was hiding from the media.