February 21, 2024 [Daily News]- Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said that a forensic audit conducted by KPMG has identified several major irregularities in the sales and distribution of petroleum products from Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Ltd (CPSTL).
The forensic audit was initiated based on a complaint that the minister made to the CID in August 2022 on irregularities at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and CPSTL. The CID after their initial investigations, advised the ministry to conduct a full forensic audit for further findings.
Accordingly, the forensic audit conducted by the KPMG investigation officials have found several irregularities that took place at the CPSTL. With the findings it has been revealed that more than 1.3 Million entries have been changed or deleted since 2010 from the main database. It is significant that the most deletions and changes have occurred in 2022 during the height of the fuel crisis. However, after lodging a complaint to the CID in August 2022, the number has significantly reduced in 2023.
As a result of those irregularities massive losses have been recorded from stock handling procedures in 2022 amounting to Rs.28 Billion. According to the minister, after the complaint was lodged the amount of losses came down to Rs.4 billion in 2023.
Besides, it has been revealed that there is no adequate data available with the CPSTL to ensure smooth functions or to determine certain irregularities. Moreover, it has been identified that outdated circulars and procedures are used. The full forensic audit report will be handed over to the ministry next week by KPMG and then it will be handed over to the CID for further investigations aiming to take appropriate legal actions. It will also be shared with the Cabinet of Ministers, Parliament, Auditor General and Attorney General’s Department to pursue the next steps in this regard.
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