Rs. 200 Mn funds for President’s foreign trips, fuel, vehicle maintenance: Anura alleges Siyambalapitiya rebuffs claims

• Says President must uphold financial discipline in the first place  

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera   

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was harping on financial discipline, had sought Parliamentary approval for Rs. 200 million under a supplementary estimate for foreign visits, fuel and vehicle maintenance in addition to the budgetary allocations, NPP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday.   

He told Parliament that the President must uphold financial discipline in the first place, and said Parliament and the President must think before allocating such a colossal amount of money for foreign tours at the expense of taxpayers’ money.   
“We talk about financial discipline in Parliament. The President must uphold the financial discipline in the first place. He has visited the United Kingdom on four occasions, and twice to Japan. He has taken 14 foreign trips in 14 months,” he said.   
Dissanayake alleged that the President has sought additional allocations for foreign trips when the balance of the allocated money for midday meals of the school children is yet to be made and payments for school uniforms have also not been made yet,” he said.   

He said the President was touring around the world with the funds collected by imposing the VAT on the common man’s glass of milk, rice, diesel, school stationery and health equipment. 

Meanwhile, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said the allegations were baseless, saying that it was a contingency expenditure made in 2023 and presented it to parliament under 6.1 of the Appropriation Bill.
“Supplementary estimates are usually presented to parliament after March. We have never presented supplementary estimates in January. We have only started the financial year. This is only to inform Parliament of a contingency expenditure made in 2023,” he said.           

• We talk about financial discipline in Parliament. The President must uphold the financial discipline in the first place. He has visited the United Kingdom on four occasions, and twice to Japan