INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) will not convene meetings until further notice, Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena
informed the House today (Nov.17).As such, the COPE meeting scheduled to be held at 1:00 p.m
today has been postponed.The Speaker revealed this in response to a question raised by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa during Day 4 of
the ongoing debate on the Second Reading of 2024 Appropriation Bill (78th Budget Speech).COPE chairman Prof
Ranjith Bandara came under fire for his conduct at the latest committee meeting for which the officials of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) were
summoned for inquiries.Later, the presence of Prof
However, the COPE chairman defended his actions in a clarification issued, saying that his son serves as his coordinating secretary.Prof
Bandara said his son was permitted to attend the meeting by the assistant sergeant-at-arms at his request.However, the Speaker told the
parliament on Thursday (Nov.16) that an investigation would be conducted into the matter.In addition, the COPE chairman also found himself
in hot water after the Opposition Leader revealed some documents in parliament, evidencing that Prof
Bandara served as a consultant for SLC on the Kandy Cricket Campus project, apart from another consultancy firm owned by him which provides
services to the cricket body.The Opposition Leader hit out at Prof
Bandara for not disclosing his connection to SLC beforehand and continuing to act as the COPE chairman despite this possible conflict of
interest.In a clarification, the SLC said Prof
Bandara does not have any connections to the current administration of the cricket body as his services were obtained from 2017 to 2018 when
meeting with SLC officials, Prof
Bandara explained that this was just a tactical maneuver to manage a challenging situation as multiple participants were trying to speak
