Former Provincial Councilor Waruna Rajapaksa says that there is a serious suspicion regarding the ‘premium’ fees paid to Sri Lanka when purchasing oil.
Speaking on his YouTube channel Count Dawn with Waruna, he says that there is a reasonable suspicion that large-scale financial irregularities are being committed through the payment of unusually high premium fees to certain companies.
Although fuel prices in the world market are usually determined based on daily index values such as the international Singapore Platts, he says that this problematic situation has been created through the ‘premium’ fees paid to suppliers.
He further stated that Trafigura had contracted with the government to supply five tankers at a premium of around $3.80, but after supplying two of them, they have defaulted on the remaining three.
He pointed out that the government had given the company the opportunity to bid for emergency purchases, even though the company should have been blacklisted under the normal procedure. He also alleged that the previous premium of $3.80 had been increased to $43.
At the same time, other companies such as Fedesa were supplying oil at the same premium of around $3.80 that had been agreed upon earlier, and the government should clarify whether there was any ‘commission’ transaction behind the decision to pay such a high price to only one company, he said.