Minister issues scathing response to Ranil’s statement on liquor licenses

The Cabinet Media Spokesperson, Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, announced that liquor companies owe nearly Rs. 7 billion in taxes, and that the government is taking measures to recover the outstanding dues.  

Dr. Jayatissa’s comments came in response to the statement issued by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office on December 09. The statement claimed that Wickremesinghe had not granted any liquor licenses outside the prescribed procedure and emphasized that the government had generated over Rs. 3 billion in revenue by granting liquor licenses.  

Addressing the matter today, Minister Jayatissa stated: “Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that he hoped to strengthen the temperance movement by issuing 250 to 300 liquor licenses per year and using the taxes generated from them. It is not appropriate for a person who spends his retirement life on the public tax money to express his views in such a sarcastic manner.”

Dr. Jayatissa further criticized the previous administration’s lack of enforcement regarding tax collection from liquor companies, noting, “The issue is not about issuing liquor licenses. Ranil Wickremesinghe and his party had not even taken steps to ensure that the people pay taxes for the liquor they sell by issuing those bar licenses.” 

“For example, the three companies owned by Aloysius have owed arrears of taxes and surcharges since 2022. When the decision to issue liquor licenses was taken, the decision should have also been taken to collect the unpaid taxes”, he added.

He stressed that the government is actively working to recover the outstanding taxes.

“There is outstanding tax to be collected from liquor companies amounting to nearly Rs. 7 billion. We are working to collect those taxes. If we had the power under the Act, instead of those arrears of taxes, the government could have seized their properties.” 

“That’s why I would like to tell Ranil Wickremesinghe that if coconuts had been planted in this country or repaired the rice stores, during the time he spent ‘growing bars’, this problem would not have arisen today.” 

On Monday (09), Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office has issued a statement, claiming that the former President did not issue any liquor licenses in violation of the rules and regulations of the Excise Department and that the government has received a revenue of over Rs. 3.1 billion during the first nine months of this year through the new liquor licenses issued during Wickremesinghe’s tenure as the President.

The statement pointed out that the legitimacy of the procedure followed in granting the liquor licenses was verified through the recommendations made in the letter forwarded by the Election Commission to the Commissioner General of Excise on the 19 August 2024.

It further highlights that the incumbent Cabinet of Ministers has the power to renew or revoke these “formal revenue-generating” liquor licenses.

The statement was issued in response to the allegations made in Parliament by Leader of the House Minister Bimal Rathnayake that the former President has issued liquor licenses as political bribes.