VIDEO: Invalid agreement used to sell land in Galle Face - UNP

UNP Parliamentary MP Harsha de Silva questioned the government on how ten acres of land at Galle Face was sold to a Chinese organization through an invalid agreement.

Speaking at a press briefing in Colombo, he stated that the government has taken steps to sell 20 acres of land in Galle Face to foreign companies adding that there were no problems with the agreement between the government and Shangri-La over the sale of a ten acre plot.

However, he said that the agreement between the government and the Chinese based organization called China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC) had several problems with it claiming that even though the Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa stated that the transactions between Shangri-La and CATIC were taking place at the same time, it was in fact not true.

He claimed that the agreement between the Finance Ministry and CATIC was signed on February 15, 2011 in which ten acres of land in Galle Face was to sold for an advance payment of US $50 million, to be paid before February 28 while the balance US $86 million would be placed as a bank guarantee before or on April 21, 2011.

MP de Silva stated that according to the agreement, if the payments are not made on time, the government holds the absolute right to claim the guarantee while the agreement will be considered invalid henceforth.

He further added that Deputy Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena had submitted all the documents in relation to this transaction to the Parliament on June 22 while revealing that only a sum of US $ 54.4 million had yet been made at the time.

Therefore, he questioned as to how the ten acres of land was sold to the Chinese company even though the terms of the agreement had been violated.