Former Power and Energy Minister John Seneviratne has asked that a senior official from the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) who was found guilty of being corrupt by the parliamentary committee on public enterprises (COPE) and was recommended to be removed from the post as an additional general manager of the Board.

The official, one Caldera, is the head of the Lighting Sri Lanka project in the Ratnapura District and has won Seneviratne’s confidence. Seneviratne is a member of parliament from the Ratnapura District.

Lighting Sri Lanka for the Hambantota project was initiated by the President with the aim of providing 100 percent electrification to the Hambantota District was also launched in the Ratnapura District by then Power and Energy Minister Seneviratne.

However, the official is now making arrangements to implement the project in the Moneragala District due to his friendship with Minister Jagath Pushpakumara although Moneragala is not covered by the programme.

Minster Pushpakuamra has therefore asked the Uva Province Chief Minister Shashindra Rajapaksa to ask the President to appoint Caldera as an additional general manager.

Caldera was serving as the deputy general manager of the CEB when the COPE found him guilty and the Committee asked that the official be demoted. However, the former Power and Energy Minister had not heeded the COPE request.