Govt cars abandoned as Sri Lanka’s leftist leader takes charge

AFP | Colombo

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

Email: editor@Newsofbahrain.com

Hundreds of pricey government vehicles have been abandoned around Sri Lanka’s capital after the country’s new Marxist-leaning president took office, a member of his party said yesterday, with hundreds of others missing.

Senior members of the former government had dumped the state-owned cars and SUVs without a proper handover, according to Wasantha Samarasinghe, a member of Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s JVP party.

The fleet includes fourwheel-drive Toyota Land Cruisers and utility vehicles. “We have launched an investigation into who abandoned these vehicles and on what authority they used them,” Samarasinghe told reporters at a public park where the vehicles had been left.

He did not say whether the keys had been left with the cars. Out of a fleet of 833 vehicles registered at the colonial-era Presidential Secretariat, there was no trace of 253, he added.

The vehicles are believed to have been taken by senior politicians and officials of previous administrations. Dissanayake came to power following Saturday’s election, riding a promise to change the country’s political culture and tackle corruption and abuse of power.

Local election monitors reported the main malpractice recorded during the peaceful vote was the misuse of stateowned vehicles and other resources.