It has been decided to forward the Cabinet for approval by recommending to write off the excess amount of three hundred million rupees (Rs. 300,882,260.78) due to the oil corporation from the filling station owners as bad debt. The total amount owed to the oil corporation from the distributors is over sixteen billion rupees and three hundred million rupees have been proposed to be cut off as the first stage.
A senior of the corporation revealed that the proposal is to be forwarded to the cabinet this time.
This amount is estimated to be due by March 16, 2022. It is estimated that the total due amount is more than sixteen billion rupees.
It is estimated that this amount should be charged to the corporation under the stabilization of fuel price, which is the basis for calculating the discount amount to the shed owners compared to the fuel price fluctuations.
Despite this, it has been recommended to write off these amounts as bad debts without recovery based on a decision taken by the board of directors that they cannot be given as debt to the corporation when giving fuel stations to foreign investors.
Majority of the Deputy General Managers of the Board of Directors have expressed disapproval of this decision. A senior officer of the oil corporation told Aruna that only the chairman, deputy general manager (sales) and marketing managers of the corporation have expressed their consent to this decision.
The senior official also said that when there was an audit inquiry and a court case related to writing off these loans, the ministry secretary also objected to the decision to write off the bad debt. We tried to contact Energy Ministry Secretary Mapa Pathirana by phone to inquire about this, but he did not respond to the phone.
A company spokesman pointed out that in the initial phase, they are preparing to cut the amount to be charged from the respective gas stations in providing gas stations to Sinopec in China.
He also pointed out that although the distributors got high profits during the oil price hikes, considering the loss incurred by them during the oil price reduction, it has been proposed to cut this amount and it has been decided to refer the cabinet paper.
The trade union representatives pointed out to Aruna that instead of writing off this amount as a bad debt as a bonus, they could have given relief to the people during the increase in oil prices, but since the majority of shed owners are political friends and relatives, they have taken steps to take advantage of this.
(Aruna)
