How ridiculous is the excuse, that a
Tanker that brought fuel was “found to be carrying substandard fuel,
and therefore had to be rejected!” This state of affairs just does not happen
by accident. It is a fraud that was perpetrated against the Country and this
was found out by a local person testing the fuel quality.
Any person with half a brain will know
that NO COMPANY ships substandard petrol UNKNOWINGLY! It is so easy to test
fuel, that even I can buy a digital sophisticated machine for US$5,000 and have
all the tests carried out in minutes. No one will ship substandard fuel UNLESS
that was the standard that was ordered, or to put it simply, someone ordered
substandard fuel, paying the normal rate, and pocketing the difference overseas,
between the normal fuel price and the substandard one. This has been going on
for a long time, and this time someone sneaked the information about the
substandard, so the Minister had NO OPTION but to reject it.
It is a bit rich when he says in today’s
FT that he has been under a lot of pressure to accept this substandard fuel, BY
POLITICIANS AND BUSINESSMEN, when it is the very same people who ordered it, so
they could make a buck on the price difference, and like they have done before
fool the public with low grade fuel that is a constant of our Fuel Distribution
system.
Only when we have a consumer affairs
authority with some teeth and the machinery available to mobile test fuel
around the Country, so that this practice is brought to the public notice and
those responsible, prosecuted and jailed, will there be some confidence that
the PUBLIC INTEREST is being safeguarded.
Until then we citizens in Sri Lanka are
held to ransom by rogue politicians who are making a buck at our expense, IN
THE END THE POOR CONSUMER PAYS FOR EVERY FRAUD THAT OCCURS IN SRI LANKA, and
corruption is the order of the day of the leaders in Government and the Public
Service whose sole purpose in life is to profit from theft from the people.
With hundreds of thousands of people inconvenienced,
thousands waiting in queues, the Country is losing productivity and production,
and it does not have any effect on the leaders, being driven in their LUXURY
SUV’s powered by Diesel. They don’t have a clue how our poor people are suffering.
Let’s face it, the MAIN responsibility
of the Minister of Petroleum is to ensure that correct quality fuel is
distributed to all stations of the Ceypetco Brand.
He has not been able to
ensure that, and so he MUST RESIGN WITHOUT DELAY, NOW
Cabinet subcommittee appointed by the President to look into the fuel issue, should be sitting now, but like all sub-committees, they don't come up with a solution now, they will take months to report and by that time, the people would have forgotten about this crisis too.
ReplyDeleteSo there is no point doing that, just ask the Minister to resign, at least the people will have faith that those responsible are held to account
Mr Dhammika Ranatunga is the Chairman of Ceypetco. Do we need any more reasons to explain the situation? It is simply not acceptable under any rules of sense, and basic decency, for a brother of the Petroleum Minister to be the Chairman of Ceypetco. If we have a President who has not prevented this, then why do we have leaders who cannot lead ?
ReplyDeleteDhammika Ranatunga is at the heart of the scam, and the LIOC is also complicit in bringing substandard fuel, knowingly into Sri Lanka.
ReplyDeleteIt is time to fine both parties Rs5Billion each, as that is the sum they have defrauded the state up to now on their scam. There is no point jailing them only, it costs too much to keep them locked up. Better confiscate all their gains to date. This will then be a lesson for crooks, that they cannot get away from it easily.
A buffer stock of one month's requirements must be kept, even in a ship docked outside. After all the 99 fuel tanks in Trinco have been unused for 75 years, why? Use them or lease them out to someone else who can make use of them, don't just leave them to rot.
ReplyDelete