Staff of the Co-operative Wholesale Establishment (CWE)/Sathosa have their salaries paid from the rent the CWE receives from its buildings and not from the profit the CWE makes, according to Trade, Commerce, and Food Security Minister Nalin Fernando. 

Fernando stated: “We merely pay the CWE staff; they don’t have any significant tasks to complete. Moreover, the establishment must be restructured because it is not efficiently boosting the national economy.”

The establishment owns buildings and Sathosa transport (lorries). The Ministry has instructed it to rent out lorries in order to generate an income.