The Colombo District Court has issued an interim injunction preventing the implementation of a letter issued by the chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), former President Maithripala Sirisena to Dayasiri Jayasekara, who was recently ousted as the party’s General Secretary.

The injunction order was issued by Colombo District Judge Sandun Vithana this morning (21), after considering a complaint filed by Dayasiri Jayasekara.

There, the attorneys who appeared on behalf of the former SLFP general secretary told the court that the party’s chairman Maithripala Sirisena had directed a letter on Monday (Sept. 18), which mentioned that a disciplinary inquiry would be conducted against Jayasekara and asking him for excuses.

However, Jayasekara mentioned that, pursuant to the SLFP’s constitution, the party chairman has no authority to issue such letter asking for excuses.

The Colombo District Judge, who considered all submissions presented, issued this injunction to be in effect until October 05, 2023.

(adaderana.lk)

The COPE committee has called for the Sri Lanka Tea Board to present a report on how they intend to spend the Rs. 9,869,442,652 balance of their sales promotion fund.

The COPE committee has also noted that the Tea Boards promotional spendings were not satisfactory.

The Tea Board was called to hand over the relevant report in 02 weeks.

Also, the COPE Chairman recommended to appoint a COPE sub committee, covering the entire tea field.

The COPE Committee also expressed its displeasure that the Tea Commissioner was also functioning as the Acting Director General of the Tea Board, leading to a conflict of interest.

It has been revealed that 07 institutions have pending excise tax payments and 02 companies that are to pay over Rs. 1.5 billion have gone missing without a trace.

The revelations were made during the Ways and Means Committee meeting held at the Parliament Complex yesterday (20) which was chaired by MP Patali Champika Ranawaka.

According to a parliament media release, the two companies that have gone missing are Globe Blender and Wayamba Spirits warehouse.

It is also said that these two companies have also not submitted payment plans while the other companies have worked according to the payment plans.

It has also been emphasized at the meeting to suspend the companies’ licenses by Oct. 30 if they fail to pay the arrears amount before October 15.

Meanwhile, it has also been emphasized it should be probed as to how the scam behind sticker attached to liquor bottles, was done.

It was also urged by the committee chairman to calculate the total amount of fines obtained over this scam since Sep. 07, 2023 and to calculate the total revenue loss incurred by the Excise Department in this manner.

It was further revealed that out of the samples checked, 90% of the stickers were proven as fake.