Sajith demands removal of committee chairmen over conflict of interest

Opposition and SJB leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday called on Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to remove parliamentary committee chairmen who had conflicts of interest.

Premadasa demanded to know from the Speaker what moral right a person had to chair a committee investigating Sri Lanka Cricket after providing consultancy services and getting paid for those services from the SLC.

“I call upon the Speaker to conduct an investigation and inform the House who the proprietor of the Business Management School of Colombo is and the names of public institutions that obtained his services. Various public institutions are summoned before the committee and are questioned whether they have a business plan. If the institution being questioned does not have a business plan then the committee orders it to prepare a business plan immediately. Thereafter, that institution is approached by the Business Management School of Colombo and it gives consultancy services to prepare the business plan. I have evidence to prove this, he alleged.

“For example, the Speaker could check this by inspecting how the Vocational Training Authority got its business plan. Does it mean that the committee chairman post is given to the MPs to promote their private businesses? There are many examples to prove this. The chairmen with conflicts of interest should be removed immediately,” Premadasa said.