• MP Pathirana said the racket is being carried out with the knowledge of certain Excise Department officials and requested an immediate inquiry into the matter

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana   

The security sticker introduced last year by the Department of Excise to be pasted on the cap of the bottles of liquor sold in Sri Lanka has been forged, as per a revelation made by an Opposition MP in parliament yesterday.   

The argument emerged when State Minister Chamara Sampath Dassanayake, lost his cool when Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena incorrectly called him an MP, signalling him to speak in Parliament.  “Speaker, I am not an MP. President Ranil Wickremesinghe has given me a portfolio. Don’t you know this? Thanks to the President I was given a State Ministry. So please don’t call me an MP. Please work according to the Parliament agenda,” he lashed out.  The Speaker who could not hold back his laughter at what the State Minister had said ended up apologizing to cool Chamara’s temper.