The Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka says he expects either the Energy Minister or any relevant authority to initiate legal action against his recent allegation on the wrongly imported crude oil.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, Janaka Ratnayake said the legal measure will help expose the truth behind the allegation.
Ratnayake yesterday alleged that the authorities have imported the wrong type of crude which is producing Naphtha with a high rate of Sulfur and hence cannot be utilized for the production of electricity.
Responding to the allegation, Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation will legally respond to the allegation.
Commenting on the minister’s statement, the PUCSL Chairman said the minister should first inquire to find out if the allegation is true, what measures should be taken to rectify the matter, and the steps required to prevent it from repeating in the future.
“This allegation has been made by several parties before as well. The minister must find out how this issue cropped out, instead of fighting over a statement and throwing allegations at others,” he said.
Janaka Ratnayake further said the minister must inquire as to how this issue occurred and how it could be resolved.
“The first responsibility of the minister must be to ascertain if such an issue has occurred, find out who is responsible for the issue, and what measures need to be taken to prevent it from occurring again. These must be done, instead of taking legal action against individuals who expose issues. Taking such legal measures is a joke,” he said.
The PUCSL Chairman said he is looking forward to such legal action as it will enable to reveal details such as the seller, composition of the fuel, and cost related to fuel importation to the public. (NewsWire)