The 21 members of parliament of the ruling party have written to the Speaker of the House requesting the immediate appointment of a special parliamentary select committee consisting of 15 members representing the ruling party and the opposition to look into the facts relating to the New Diamond and Express pearl ship disasters that occurred in Sri Lankan waters and subsequently caught fire.
The parliamentarians will make the necessary recommendations at the conclusion of the proceedings after scrutinizing the evidence before them.
The letter submitted to the Speaker today has been signed by Jayantha Katagoda, Sanjeeva Edirimanna, Yadamini Gunawardhana, WD Weerasinghe, Ranjith Bandara, Madhura Withanage, Rajika Wickramasinghe, Gunathilaka Rajapakse, Kumarasiri Ratnayake, Jagath Kumara, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Sampath Athukorala, Nalaka Kottegoda, Sudarshan Dapitiya, K.A.N.U. K Gunathilake, Nimal Lanza, HMM Harris, Sarath Weerasekera, Muditha De Soysa, SB Dissanayake and Pradeep Undugoda.
In the letter addressed to the Speaker, the MPs point out that there has been a great deal of discussion among the people about the incidents of ship accidents and the various interventions that occurred after the accidents.
It is further stated in the letter that, against this backdrop, several members of Parliament disclosed the transactions that took place between ship insurance companies both inside and outside the House.
The members of parliament representing the ruling party have further requested in the letter handed over to the speaker that a special parliamentary select committee be appointed to investigate the matter, as the truth behind these ship accidents must be revealed.
The Chief Organizer of the ruling party, Minister Prasanna Ranatunga, who commented on this matter, said that the opposition is demanding a debate with the aim of suppressing the allegations relating to the financial involvements that have been made regarding ship accidents.
The minister said that the ruling party would request that the speaker appoint this special select committee with the aim of defeating the opposition’s efforts to suppress material facts relating to the matter.
Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapaksa recently revealed in parliament that there have been frauds involving the shipwrecks.
