Sri Lanka: President Brother Dudly kicked the asses of poor by playing rice monopoly

Jan 4, 2017

( January 4, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Rural Economic Affairs Minister P. Harrison yesterday challenged President’s brother Dudley Sirisena, who is the Araliya Rice proprietor to prove allegations that he had received kickbacks from some millers to release paddy stocks in the state-owned Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) storage facilities and was responsible for severe shortage of rice in the market.

Addressing the media at his ministry, Anuradhapura District MP said that if the allegations were proved, he would quit his parliamentary seat.

Sirisena recently claimed that had paddy stocks in the state-owned godowns been released properly to rice mill owners, the country wouldn’t have faced the present rice shortage. Sirisena alleged that paddy stocks had been released to middlemen. He blamed Minister Harrison for selling a kilo of paddy at Rs. 43.65 a kilo to middlemen who re-sold it at Rs. 55 a kilo to millers thereby making a huge profit.

Minister Harrison said that he hadn’t taken money from millers or middlemen or sought profits at the expense of the people.

The UNPer said that Dudley Sirisena had received the lion’s share of paddy stocks held by the government on the basis of the highest price quoted by his enterprise. The Minister said that Sirisena had obtained 17,000 MT of paddy.