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Rs. 2 donation from each mask: Conflict of interest allegation against Bandula’s fund

04 Nov 2021

  • Former CAA Executive Director alleges Minister’s relatives running fund
  • Ministry says it has no relationship with fund
  • Positions in fund are held in personal capacities: Min. Secy. 
BY Shenal Fernando Crediting Rs. 2 from every sale of the facemasks made by the State Trading Corporation (STC) to Minister of Trade Dr. Bandula Gunawardana’s “Pragna Bandu” fund is littered with a conflict of interest as his brother-in-law, niece, and her father are alleged to be the trustees of the said fund.  This was claimed by former Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) Executive Director Thushan Gunawardena in a YouTube channel of his, yesterday (3).  Gunawardena stated the trustees of the “Pragna Bandu” fund include Minister of Trade Dr. Gunawardana, Ministry of Trade Secretary Bhadranie Jayawardhana, Ranjith Iddamalgoda,  Prof. Sampath Priyantha Perera, Prof. Sudantha Liyanage, Prof. Ranjith Bandara, Prof. Praneeth Abeysundara, Prof. Arjuna De Silva, Prof. Ravindranath Liyanage, Laugfs Holdings Chairman W.K.H. Wegapitiya, and Development Lotteries Board (DLB) Chairman Anusha Palpita. Former CAA Executive Director questioned the ethicality of this method of fund collection, considering the existence of a clear conflict of interests by virtue of the fact that the Minister of Trade and the Ministry of Trade Secretary, under whose purview STC functions, are also trustees of this private fund. Moreover, speaking to The Morning, he further pointed out that STC Assistant General Manager of Marketing Chamila Iddamalgoda is the daughter of the Trade Minister’s sister and that her father and the Minister’s brother-in-law Ranjith Iddamalgoda is a trustee of the “Pragna Bandu” scholarship fund. Therefore, Gunwardena claimed that there is a conflict of interest in the decision made by the STC to permit Rs. 2 to be credited to the private scholarship fund named “Pragna Bandu” established by Minister Gunawardana, from every sale of the Respirone Nano AV 99 facemask made through Lanka Sathosa outlets. STC, established by the Sri Lanka State Trading Corporation Act No. 33 of 1970, is a wholly government-owned institution functioning under the purview of the Minister of Trade. According to Gunawardena, a board paper was presented on 23 June by the Chairman, General Manager, and Assistant General Manager of Marketing of STC to the Board of the corporation, proposing that Rs. 2 from every sale of Respirone Nano AV 99 facemask produced by STC be credited to the “Pragna Bandu” fund, for which approval was subsequently granted by the Board. Pointing to a letter dated 22 June, sent by Prof. Praneeth Abeysundara on behalf of the “Pragna Bandu” fund, requesting STC to donate a portion of its profits generated from the sale of the Respirone facemasks to the fund, the former CAA Executive Director questioned the ethicality of influencing a state corporation as such, considering the power wielded by the trustees over the corporation by virtue of their official positions and familial relationships. Speaking to The Morning, the Ministry of Trade Secretary denied any impropriety and claimed that there is no relationship between the Ministry of Trade and the “Pragna Bandu” fund. When questioned on the fact that both she and the Minister are trustees of the fund in question, she claimed that such positions are held in a personal capacity. Previously a complaint was lodged by New Sinhale National Movement (NSNM) Convenor and Ape Jana Bala Pakshaya/Our Power of People Party (AJBP/OPPP) Media Spokesman Dan Priyasad, who accused the Minister of Trade of using this fund collection initiative to raise money for his political campaigns. “Gunawardana is an economist, but he has apparently worked to build his economy instead of that of the country. When a Minister acts in this manner, the President also has a responsibility to look into it. We will be watching how the investigations would be carried out into this,” Priyasad said, speaking to the media after the complaint was lodged. However, it should be noted that the Minister of Trade donated Rs. 10 million of his own personal funds during the initiation of the “Pragna Bandu” fund on 16 March. Despite numerous attempts by us to contact the Minister of Trade, all such efforts proved futile. However, previously during a weekly cabinet media briefing on 11 October, the Minister of Trade commented on this matter; while admitting that Rs. 2 is to be donated from the sale of each facemask, he claimed that the relevant fund of nearly Rs. 20 million has been deposited in National Savings Bank (NSB) as sunk capital and that neither he nor his family will ever be able to get it back even in the future.


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