Former NTC Chairman Renuka Perera remanded over bus permit case
COLOMBO – Former National Transport Commission (NTC) Chairman and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Executive Committee member Renuka Perera was on Thursday (17) remanded until September 29 following his arrest earlier in the day by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) over the alleged unlawful issuance of passenger transport permits.
Perera was arrested over allegations that he issued 56 passenger transport service permits during his tenure as NTC Chairman for buses to operate on the Southern Expressway, without following legally prescribed procedures.
He was produced before Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama, where CIABOC officials and defence lawyers made submissions before the court ordered that he be remanded until September 29.
CIABOC told the court that the permits had been issued in violation of provisions of the National Transport Commission Act No. 37 of 1991 and recommendations contained in a Cabinet decision dated Sept. 19, 2014.
The Commission further alleged that the annual licence fees applicable to the permits had not been collected as a single upfront payment as required.
According to CIABOC, the failure to collect the fees in the prescribed manner had caused a financial loss to the State while providing an undue advantage to private bus operators.
-ENCL
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