Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila has stated that the allegation that a Cabinet paper was submitted to lease the Trincomalee Port, Oil Tank Complex and 33,000 acres surrounding it to the United States is completely untrue.
The Minister was commenting on a statement allegedly made by JVP Politburo member Wasantha Samarasinghe as the Convener of the Voice Against Corruption at a media briefing.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Minister Udaya Gammanpila said JVP Politburo member Wasantha Samarasinghe, posing as the convener of the Voice Against Corruption, has made a series of lies about him at a press conference on Sunday.
“He has stated that I have submitted a Cabinet paper to lease the Trincomalee Port, the oil tank complex and the 33,000 acres associated with it to the United States. His statement is a blatant lie. I did not submit such a cabinet paper. I challenge him to show me a copy of the cabinet paper,” the Minister said in a statement.
The Minister pointed out that since the JVP ally, United National Party (UNP) in 2003 leased the oil tank complex to India for 35 years and the fact that Mr. Wasantha Samarasinghe failed to understand that those oil tanks cannot be leased to another country until 2038 shows that he is unable to understand it is still 2021.
He further said it is ridiculous that a former Member of Parliament Wasantha Samarasinghe did not know that if the Trincomalee Port is to be leased to the United States, a Cabinet Memorandum should be submitted by the Minister of Ports and not the Minister of Energy.
“I would also like to inform Mr. Samarasinghe for his general knowledge that the Ministry of Energy does not have 33,000 acres in Trincomalee to lease to the United States, not even to be used for a domestic purpose and 33,000 acres is a vast tract of land spread over many villages.”
What Mr. Samarasinghe has actually done is to add three more lies to the JVP’s series of lies, Gammanpila said.