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SriLankan stance leaves COPE in quandary

by Rodney Martinesz

The financial accounts of over 40 State institutions will not come under the scrutiny of the Committee on Public Enterprise (COPE) following the position taken yesterday by SriLankan Airlines not to submit itself for investigations by COPE.

The SriLankan Airlines management which was summoned before COPE yesterday contended that since the SLA did not come within the definition of a Public Corporation under the 1978 Constitution it was not liable for investigation.

This has opened the floodgates for around 40 State institutions not to submit their annual accounts for investigation by COPE using the position taken by SLA as a precedent.

The issue had placed COPE in big predicament since it is now unable to scrutinise the bulk of the State institutions which would take cover under the SriLankan stand, COPE Chairman and MP Jeyeraj Fernandopulle told the Daily News.

Following this position taken up by SriLankan the accounts of 40 State institutions including ITN and Lake House too cannot be scrutinised by this watchdog body of public finances, he said.

"We are helpless. We had to close the file on SriLankan. This is a big setback. After all, what is involved are public funds. We as members of the COPE are bound to give an account to the public on how their money is being spent".

Fernandopulle said that although the Government had promised to amend the laws and Parliament Standing Orders to permit institutions like SriLankan to be probed this has not been forthcoming to date and therefore there is nothing much that COPE could do.

The Government holds a 51 percent stake in SriLankan.

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