Statement on Airbus deal to Parliament today

• JVP raises question on bribery case
• Wants detailed statement made to House on controversial purchase agreement

The Government will give a detailed statement to Parliament today regarding the SriLankan Airlines Airbus bribery case, Leader of the House Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said yesterday.

The Minister said this in response to a question raised by JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake for details regarding the Airbus deal, and the officials who held office at the time the agreement was finalised. The MP queried as to who the Chairman and CEO of SLA were between 2012 and 2013, when the alleged incident took place, and who was on its Board of Directors.

The spouse of a SriLankan Airlines employee was paid $ 2 million to ensure that Sri Lanka bought planes from Airbus. The company was to pay $ 16.8 million to ensure that but after the change in Government in 2015, the deal with Airbus was scrapped.

“SriLankan is a loss-making institution. We all know this. Between 2009 and 2019, UL lost Rs. 240 billion according to the 2019 COPE report. Among main contributory factors were the deal with Airbus to buy aircraft and the subsequent decision to cancel the agreement. At the end of the day, the people will have to pay for this too. The contract was controversial, we knew this for a long time, but no action was taken,” he said.