• Seeks Dep. Speaker’s permission to be arrested by CID

Following a complaint made against State Minister of Primary Industries Chamara Sampath Dasanayake regarding the alleged theft of 22 million iron ore from the Kankesanthurai (KKS) cement factory within a period of two months and recognising the necessity for an immediate investigation regarding the same, Dasanayake told the Parliament yesterday (10) that he is willing to surrender if he is implicated in the iron-selling scheme at the mentioned factory.

Speaking in Parliament, Dasanayake said that he intends to go to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and therefore, the Police can arrest him if they wish. He further mentioned that he would also request Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Ajith Rajapakse to grant permission to the Police Department to arrest him, as such approval is needed to arrest a parliamentarian. In response to Dasanayake, Rajapakse who was the Chair, said that the Police can arrest him any time now in light of  Dasanayake expressing his willingness to surrender. “Police has the permission to arrest Dasanayake as he is willing to give himself up,” he said.

Former Sri Lanka Cement Corporation Chairman attorney Gamini Ekanayake, on Wednesday (9), complained to the CID that Dasanayake should be held responsible for the theft of 22 million iron ore from the Kankesanthurai cement factory within a period of two months, stating that an immediate investigation should commence into the same. 

Filing the complaint, he had stated that a technical committee had made an evaluation regarding the amount of iron, worth billions of Sri Lankan rupees, scattered on the cement factory site. He further said that he had taken all steps to implement the decision to sell the scrap metal on this land, per the tender procedure, in accordance with the Cabinet of Ministers’ decision to rebuild the factory. “But, instead of implementing the Cabinet decision, Dasanayake had first removed the army personnel guarding the factory premises and left only a limited number, thus rendering the factory premises unsafe,” he alleged. Ekanayake also claimed that there is a clear connection between the recruitment of seven persons from Badulla to this factory and the alleged theft of 22 million iron in two months after the Army was withdrawn and the area was made unsafe.

Several attempts made by The Daily Morning to contact Cement Corporation Chairman Jagath Dharmapriya and Acting Police Media Spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police attorney Ruwan Gunasekera proved futile.