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Ranil to scrap ‘illegal loans’
UNP and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said that when the UNP would come into power all illegal loans taken by the ruling government would be nullified because the ruling government is alleged to have received a number of illegal loans from various countries.
The UNP would also pass a legislation to implement the UN Convention on corruption to which Sri Lanka was a signatory since 2004, the Opposition leader said at a media conference held at the Opposition leader’s office yesterday.
UNP leader Wickremasinghe added that the country had been mortgaged to foreign nations as the ruling government had taken numerous loans on te pretext of launching development programmes. The UNP had documentary evidence that the ruling government had taken several unofficial loans with high interest rates, but the UNP had taken a decision not to pay those illegal loans under any circumstances.
He pointed out that the parliament, as country’s legislature, would decide the repayment of such loans. The government should not have taken illegal loans from any country ignoring the procedure involved. Foreign debts had posed a threat to the country’s economy and one such illegal loan was HSBC loan.
Wickremasinghe said that the Constitution was full of discrepancies and the UNP had decided to introduce a mixed representation system in parliament. The Constitution with necessary amendments would be implemented through both proportional representation and constituency system. Hundred and twenty-five MPs would be elected on the constituency basis.
UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya said that on the concept of India’s Prime Minister Manamohan Sing, employment generation had been successful in India through the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). The UNP government had already formulated a plan to apply the Business Process Outsourcing system in Sri Lanka for the sake young men and women who were obsessed by fear of unemployment.
He noted that unemployed youth would be able to earn enough money through BPO system because it was the latest money spinner in the modern world.
SLFP (Mahajana Wing) leader Mangala Samaraweera said that politicization of th Samurdhi beneficiaries by the UPFA government was a national crime. It was found that Samurdhi families who did not wish to support the ruling party were harassed and their benefits cancelled. The UNP had decided to assist all Samurdhi beneficiaries without political affiliations because Samurdhi beneficiaries were considered to be living in sordid poverty.
