NPP government most corrupt in history, says insider. Deputy Minister Janitha Ruwan Kodithuwakku named in airport duty free monopoly plot.
The NPP government is the most corrupt government in history, based on one key observation. Previous governments stole or were accused of stealing from projects. However, the NPP government does not have the capacity to carry out projects. But they are not refraining from stealing either. They are stealing in a very despicable manner from the country’s routine expenses and procurements. They destroy the systems that existed to stop such low level thefts.
These people who came to change the country’s bad systems are destroying the new, updated, and internationally standardized systems. This is simply because they need to steal and take bribes. That is a national crime. Here is another such theft.
At this moment, the Sri Lanka Airport Company does not have a Chairman. Since the previous Chairman left, the Ministry Secretary is acting as Chairman. This institution is primarily run by Deputy Minister Janitha Ruwan Kodithuwakku. The Cabinet Minister does not know about or interfere with this subject.
Janitha Ruwan Kodithuwakku is yet another fellow who was once starving and now steals for seven lifetimes. He is keeping the Chairman position vacant because the Secretary is his puppet and it is easier to play games with the Secretary. Now he has devised a deadly plan to steal from his own ministry, where no projects are happening.
The duty free shops at the Sri Lanka airport are operated by two international companies: Flemingo International and Avolta (formerly Dufry). These are international companies that exclusively do this business. They have taken the duty free shops from the airport company and are doing business.
Previous rulers brought both these companies to Sri Lanka to create competition and to lift Sri Lanka’s airport in international rankings. Even at international airports in the region, such as Singapore and the Maldives, both Flemingo and Avolta operate. At the Katunayake Airport, the daily income of one such company exceeds one million dollars. This is an extremely large sum, because these companies earn money from both imports and exports.
Now Deputy Minister Kodithuwakku, together with the Ministry Secretary, has devised a wonderful plan. That is to give the business currently done by two companies to a single company, and drive away the other company. Why make such a sudden change to a business that is running well? It is unnecessary.
The reason is that if you drive away one company and give the entire business to a single company, a monopoly will be created. Not only will the company’s profits double, but over time they will also be able to earn illegitimate profits due to the monopoly. Through this, the Deputy Minister expects a long term bribe from the company that completes the transaction.
The damage to the country from this will be the creation of a monopoly of one company at our airport, the lack of competition, and our downfall in international rankings. For an income in the range of $30-50 million given to a company, they might expect a bribe of around Rs. 500,000 per month. This number could be higher. It is also a profitable deal for the company.
Here are the thieves who came to power with the NPP government, who talked about flowers, who were once starving, now looting. Katunayake has been deteriorating since 2015. Every airport in our region is expanding. New terminals are being built. The number of passengers that can be handled is increasing. But our Katunayake remains stagnant.
If we expand the terminal and increase the number of passengers we can handle, all these revenues will increase further. More than half of the people who use our airport use Katunayake as a transit point. Our capacity is 7 million. But last year alone, 10.7 million passengers used the airport, including 2.3 million tourists. Our airport is already overcrowded.
These fellows do not have the capacity to even start such a project that would benefit the country and take a cut. This is not an endorsement of stealing, but a suggestion to save the country from these fellows. But they cannot refrain from stealing either. So they are trying to break the well functioning, internationally standardized systems in the country and destroy the country, simply because they need to steal.
