[One million SLR spent on Matale mass grave investigation: Report missing]
The Government has spent as much as Rs.270 million on 17 Presidential Commissions appointed between 2005 and 2013, but the reports of most of them have still not been presented to Parliament, the Lanka Truth reported. Government gave these details in response to a question asked by JVP Leader and member of parliament Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Responding to supplementary question by the member of the parliament, asked why the reports compiled by these commissions had not been presented to Parliament, , Chief Government Whip Dinesh Gunawardane said there was no legal binding on the part of the government to do so, reported the Daily Mirror.
“The government submitted some of the reports such as the one compiled by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). The reports have to be submitted to the appointing authority. The President is the appointing authority according to the law of the country. There is no legal requirement to present such reports to Parliament,” MP Dinesh Gunawardane had said.
“These commissions dealt with serious matters such as some high profile killings and disappearances. Doesn’t this Parliament have any right to know what happened,” MP Dissanayake had commented.
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The government had spent Rs.18 million for the LLRC; Rs.95 million for the Commission that investigated cases of serious human rights violations; Rs.25 million on the Commission that looked into the financial institutions declared bankrupt and Rs.1 million on the Commission that investigated the assassination of Mr. Pararajasingham. The Government had also spent Rs.12 million on the Commission probing military purchases from 2000 to 2005 while the Commission inquiring into the Matale mass grave was allocated Rs.7 million.