Controversial tender agreement with Indian company to print security stickers MP slams Excise Department for failing to respond to allegations

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana   

An Opposition MP yesterday slammed the Department of Excise for failing to respond to the recent allegations that were made against the latter in the House regarding a controversial tender agreement with an Indian company, that would eventually result in a loss of Rs.1 billion per year.   

Samagi Jana Balawegaya Parliamentarian Buddhika Pathirana addressing a media briefing said the Excise Department has issued a statement over his revelation in the House about a new security feature to be introduced for locally manufactured liquor bottles in the near future.   

The MP said the department had entered into a Tender agreement with an Indian company named MSP (Madras Security Printers) to print a security sticker to be pasted on all liquor bottles.   

The initial agreement was to print a sticker costing 25 cents but later it had been changed into a barcode imprinted on the label of the liquor bottle for a cost of Rs.2. This increase in cost had not been done through a second tender calling and it leads to great suspicion whether some third party is gaining a huge profit out of it, MP Pathirana said.   

This alone had resulted in a loss of Rs.1 billion per year.   

This method of pasting a security sticker was first applied to foreign liquor bottles being sold at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) duty free shops to discourage racketeers from smuggling in stocks of foreign booze.