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Five Presidential limos not custom-built, PM tells Cabinet

by Ravi Ladduwahetty

Five of the 44 luxury vehicles ordered by the Presidential Secretariat during the PA regime on the directive of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga which she claimed to be custom-built were not so, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has told the weekly meeting of the Cabinet Ministers last night.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has reported to Cabinet that four of the 18 BMWs which were ordered for President Kumaratunga, have been manufactured before 2000 contrary to what the President claimed. Three of them had been manufactured in 1998 and one in 1999, authoritative political sources told the Daily News late last night.

The Premier had reported to Cabinet the findings of the Cabinet Sub Committee appointed to probe the issue. The Committee was chaired by Finance Minister K.N. Choksy and comprised Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake, Labour and Employment Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe and Interior Minister John Amaratunga.

Of these our BMWs one has been exported from Jakarta and the other from Hong Kong for which the manufacturers could not give a reason, the Prime Minister told the Cabinet, the sources said.

Of the remaining vehicles in the fleet, there have been two luxury Range Rovers which have been air freighted to Colombo from Amsterdam and not London, the original manufacturing point, they said.

One of them had been manufactured in April 1997, contrary to the claims made by the Presidential Secretariat that they were custom-built and ordered for the President in 2000, these sources said.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has directed his Secretary to study the report of the sub-committee and to determine what course of action should be pursued with and whether further investigations of the Criminal Investigations Department were deemed necessary.

These sources said that the President maintained stoic silence while the revelations were made.

The Cabinet last night endorsed the Petroleum Bill which revolved round the liberalisation of the petroleum sector, enabling global private operators to enter the market competing with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.

Approval was also given by the Cabinet to amend the Citizens' Act which removes the discrimination between males and females in line of descent for citizenship, these sources said. 

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