Then Chairman of SriLankan Nishantha Wickramasinghe and his spouse and a fleet of invitees had attended a launch ceremony of Colombo – Moscow direct flights in 2011 October for which SriLankan had booked 26 rooms at Holiday Inn hotel in Moscow, it was revealed at the Presidential Commission to inquire (PCoI) into allegations of large scale frauds and malpractices in SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering Ltd and Mihin Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, last week.
Other than the CEO, a few other officials from the National carrier, a dance troupe and one more anonymous person had been on the guest list of the hotel under the SriLankan billing which had cost the national carrier a thumping Rs. 22 Million.
The former President’s relative,who is currently evading arrest for alleged fraud in the infamous MiG-27 deal, Udayanga Weerathunga was the Sri Lankan High Commissioner appointed to Russia at the time.
Testifying before the Commission Senior Manager Revenue Accounting of SriLankan Upekha Abeysekera told that 184,000 USD had been spent on the day of launch (October 03, 2011) Russian operations of SriLankan which was around Rs. 22 million under the then currency rate. The President’s Office also has paid some extra Rs.25 million in order to hire a chartered SriLankan flight for a official visit of 32 VVIPs to Moscow on June 2011 as a preliminary step towards commencing Colombo- Moscow flights.
Meanwhile the former administration of SriLankan Airlines has kicked off its Colombo- Moscow route breaching the business development plan of the national carrier and without a registered General Sales Agent (GSA) in Moscow, was also revealed at the PCoI.
According to the witness Ajith Wasantha Weerasekera, SriLankan Country Manager appointed to Russia in 2011 initiating Colombo- Moscow direct flights, disclosed this information at the cross examination conducted by State Counsel Chathura Gunathilake with the assistance of Senior State Counsel Sajith Bandara.At the time Udayanga Weeratunge was the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia the National Carrier had started its operation in Russia through the Embassy Office, it was revealed at the Commission.
Ajith Weerasekara who had vast experience on commencing new airline routes told at the Commission that it was the first time he came across a situation where the SriLankan office in a foreign country had to do financial activities under the supervision of a Sri Lankan Embassy.According to his testimony, the Sri Lankan Embassy in Russia had managed raising invoices on behalf of SriLankan through the finance division of the Embassy.
It was also revealed that the Sri Lankan Limited Liabilities company which was chosen as the GSA in Moscow with the blessings of Udayanga Weeratunge, had not been a registered company at the time it was appointed.Meanwhile the Business Plan SriLankan developed through millions of rupees in June 2011 had advised to commence a Colombo – Moscow route via Dubai. Apparently ignoring the Business Plan which was approved by the Board of Directors SriLankan, the administration had taken an arbitrary decision to start direct flights between two destination incurring a huge loss to the national carrier till the route was abandoned in 2016.
Chairman of the PCoI, Retired Supreme Court Judge Anil Gunarathna, Retired Deputy Auditor General Anthony Harald, the Director General of the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board Wasantha Jayaseeli Kapugama were the members of the Commission at this hearing.