There were no standardization in invoices and cost calculation
Ex-mihin Lanka Finance Head testifies
Charter flights booked for a trip to Rome for former President Mahinda Rajapaksa between 17 and 22 April, 2007, and the airline charged Rs.33.8 million from the Presidential Secretariat
There were no standardization when preparing the invoices and cost calculation at Mihin Lanka between April, 2007 and June, 2008, it was informed at the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCOI) into irregularities at Srilankan Airlines, Srilankan Catering and Mihin Lanka yesterday.
Mihin’s former Finance Manager Sajeewa Suwaris informed the Commission that former CEO Sajin de Vaas Gunawardene had decided the amount which was charged with regards to the charter flights booked by the Presidential Secretariat.
“As an example, the charter flights booked for a trip to Rome for former President Mahinda Rajapaksa between 17 and 22 April, 2007, the airline charged Rs.33.8 million from the Presidential Secretariat. The invoice was sent on April 23 by the former CEO,” he said. However, Mr. Suwaris revealed that his section only completed the costing on June 21, 2007.
When Deputy Solicitor General Milinda Pathirana questioned about how did the former CEO come with such figure and witness replied that he was not aware about it and former CEO gave him the invoice to send. He also said that the cost calculated was Rs.18.9 million.
“So you have charged Rs. 14 million more than the cost. That’s not a problem because you need a profit. But the real question lies as to how the CEO came to that decision. Moreover, was everything taken into consideration? For example the chartered flight was leased from a Bulgarian company for US$805,000 a month. Have we considered the cost of parking this aircraft in Rome for a few days?” DSG Pathirana asked.
Witness informed that it was only after 2009, when the airline recommenced after ceasing operations for nine months, that they had started taking a more holistic approach to cost calculation.
Another such example is the chartered flight booked for London between December 12 and 14, 2007. The cost was calculated at Rs. 21 million but invoice was raised for Rs. 45 million. There were similar incidents with regard to chartered flights to Japan, Kuwait and Delhi, the witness told the Commission.