Long term power generation plan directly affected - CEB/LTL witnesses

Former Power and Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya has provided a two hour statement to the Police Unit attached to the Presidential Commission yesterday in relation to the complaint lodged into the frauds and malpractices that occurred when purchasing electricity and supplying fuel to power plants. The former Minister had stated that he has never worked against the government’s procurement guidelines, sources from the Commission told Daily Mirror yesterday.

Earlier testifying before the Commission, Minister of Megapolis and Western Development Patali Champika Ranawaka said that Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had currently incurred a loss of Rs.100 billion due to the failure in managing and distributing its services in a proper manner.

During the testimony the Minister highlighted that the fraud had occurred when re-activating the private power stations and by signing agreements with private power producers. “By signing agreements with private power producers, the CEB had incurred massive losses and such excess power was only needed for a temporary period of the day,” the Minister said.

Several witnesses from the CEB and Lanka Transformers Limited (LTL) testifying before the Commission said that purchasing short term electricity has directly affected the long term power generation plan and due to these malfunctions, the country is burdened with losses.