UNP Matara District MP Buddika Pathirana yesterday gave a statement to the CID with regard to a statement made by him about an army contract involving several billions of rupees.

Mr. Pathirana told the media that the CID informed him that they needed to record a statement from him after he revealed a fraudulent act involving a contract to supply food to the army.

“I complained that the army food contract was given out for Rs.50 billion in 2010 though it could have been carried out for Rs.16 billion. The contract for 2015 has been signed for Rs.20 billion but that I suspected it would be given out for more in 2016," he said.

He said the CID was trying to find how I got hold of the documents with regard to the fraud rather than investigating the fraud.

“I am a peoples’ representative. I get information in various ways. I am not prepared to hand over the evidence I have collected to anyone else. But I am prepared to show it to the detectives,” he said.

Mr. Pathirana said he bought some documents of the 2016 tender list for Rs.5,000 from an army officer. “It is a regrettable incident. I do not want to insult the army but I am only revealing the frauds so that steps could be taken to stop these acts being repeated,” he said.

He arrived at the CID around 11.30 am and his statement had been recorded for several hours.