UL has no manual on obtaining foreign, financial loans

SriLankan Airlines does not have an instruction manual or guidebook when it comes to obtaining foreign loans and other financial services, Company Head of Finance Yasantha Dissanyake informed the PCoI into irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka yesterday.

Responding to a question by Rtd. Additional Solicitor General Neil Unamboowe, he informed the Commission that SriLankan had never followed a manual to cover loans.

“However, this is not covered in the government procurement manual as well. I have consulted the AG on the matter and I was told loans and finances are not covered in the government procurement manual. But we have accounted for everything and everything has board approval,” he said.

He informed the Commission that the Board of Directors of SriLankan is the procurement authority.

Unamboowe PC then questioned the witness what steps and procedures does the UL follow when obtaining loans and other financial services for which the witness replied that it depended on the transactions and the company always tried to get the most favourable terms.

Responding to another question made by Unamboowe, the witness said that obtaining the approval of the Secretary to the Treasury depended on the context and when the loan granting company needed a sovereign guarantee. He mentioned that the one such occasion was obtaining a USD 175 million loan from the Mashreq Bank. (Yoshitha Perera)