Vehicle permits for MPs is a racket – JVP
October 21, 2016
Making available duty free car permits for ministers and Parliamentarians every five years has made room for a racket states the JVP. Former JVP Parliamentarian Wasantha Samarasinghe says many Parliamentarians earn large sums of money by selling their duty free car permits they get every five years.
The Minister of Finance had said the reports that Parliamentarians are selling car permits could be false. However, Parliamentarian Udaya Gammanpila, when BBC asked him, admitted he sold his car permit. He had said he had to sell the permit as he didn’t have money to import a vehicle. Parliamentarian Gammanpila said he collected enough money to buy a vehicle by selling his permit.
JVP Provincial Councilor Wasantha Samarasinghe said making available a vehicle instead of the car permit would solve this issue.
He said the process of giving a duty free vehicle permit is a bribe as the permit is for an expensive car; Parliamentarians sell the permit for a huge amount, buy a vehicle from a portion of this amount and pocket the balance which could be more than Rs.1 million. He said this racket could be avoided by making available a car by the government for those who really need vehicles.
