• Claims that AG Dept. has failed to instruct MEPA
• says MEPA ‘scared’ to do their duty because audits reprimand them

While the losses due to incidents such as the MV X-Press Pearl maritime disaster should be calculated annually for up to 20 years, the Marine Environment Protection Authority(MEPA) has not carried out the relevant calculations for the year 2023 due to lack of support from the Attorney General's (AG) Department, The Daily Morning learns.

The ongoing issue of the handling of the MV X-Press Pearl disaster, failures in determining the damage it has caused, allegations of misconduct in calculating compensation Sri Lanka is due to receive, have highlighted the glaring shortcomings in Sri Lanka marine, environmental regulatory process and lack of expertise. The X-Press Pearl incident which was caused by a Singapore flagged vessel, which experts believe is Sri Lanka’s worst marine pollution incident, is an ongoing process, with the Government deciding to file action in Singapore instead of in Sri Lanka.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development, MP Ajith Mannapperuma said that the losses caused by an incident such as the MV X-Press Pearl maritime disaster should be calculated annually for up to 20 years, but the relevant calculations with regard to the said incident have been done only until November, 2022.

"The losses caused by this kind of incident continue for a long time. For instance, the fish harvest may decline for several years, the fishermen will therefore have to face difficulties and the environmental damage may occur. All these losses should be calculated properly. The calculations pertaining to a particular year should be done during that year itself. When that year has passed, there is no possibility to make the calculations."

Although the MEPA should be directed by the AG's Department to appoint the relevant expert committees to make the relevant calculations, Mannapperuma claimed that the Department had failed to do so. "As they have not received instructions from the AG's Department, the MEPA has not issued appointment letters to expert committee members. That is because they (MEPA) are afraid of having to be blamed during audit proceedings if they appointed experts and paid them (experts) without the AG's Department's instructions."

On 20 May 2021, the MV X-Press Pearl caught fire off the coast of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The vessel was engulfed in flames by 27 May and declared a total loss. It was still afloat, and the fire was thought to be under control by Sri Lankan firefighters by the late hours of 27 May 2021. After burning for 12 days, the vessel sank on 2 June as it was being towed away to deeper waters. The incident was deemed the worst marine ecological disaster in Sri Lankan history for the chemical products that spilled.

The allegation against the AG's Department comes in the wake of President and Minister of National Policies Ranil Wickremesinghe having instructed President's Secretary Saman Ekanayake to look into the Department’s absence at sessions of the said Committee regarding the recovery of compensation for the damage caused by the MV X-Press Pearl maritime disaster.