PRECIFAC to grill ex-SLPA Chairman over Hambantota Port

By Shanika Sriyananda

The former Chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Dr. Priyath Bandu Wickrama and the then Board of Directors of the SLPA will testify at the public hearing of the anti-corruption commission at the BMICH on Friday.

They will be questioned before the five-member panel of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power (PRECIFAC) over misusing public money at the water filling ceremony and opening of the Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port (MMRP) in Hambantota in 2010.

Several top officials of the previous Government was grilled by the PRECIFAC Police investigators and found that a loss of Rs. 138 million was incurred by the Government by holding the two ceremonies.

Former Ports and Highways Project Minister and MP Rohitha Abeygunawardena and popular artists – actor Jackson Anthony and veteran choreographers Channa and Upuli Wijewardene – who took part in the opening ceremony were questioned at the preliminary Police investigations.

Dr. Wickrama and the Board of Directors of the SLPA will testify before PRECIFAC Commissioners High Court Judges Padman Surasena, Piyasena Ranasinghe and Gihan Kulatunga and former Auditor General B.A. Premathilake on Friday.

The preliminary investigations were carried out by a team of Police investigators led by ASP Lalith Abeysekara and assisted by the Chief Inspector Geethika Bodhipaksa and Inspector Anuradha.

The first phase of the MMRP was ceremonially opened by then President Rajapaksa on 18 November 2010. With a total estimated cost of $ 361 million for the first phase, 85% of the total cost was funded by the Ex-Im Bank of China.