Leader of the House, Minister Bimal Ratnayake stated in Parliament yesterday that 361 liquor licences have been issued since January 1 of this year (2024).
The Leader of the House also stated that 172 liquor licences under the FL/4 category (retail wine stores) were among them.
He stated this while expressing his views yesterday during the debate on the Government Policy statement presented by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake recently.
He also emphasized that former President Ranil Wickremesinghe used the liquor licences as a sort of a bribe to encourage MPs to switch parties to crossover to the Gas Cylinder side those days.
The Leader of the House also said that the list of names of those who have obtained liquor licences will be tabled for the information of the public and public representatives.
Speaking further, he stated that 110 liquor licences have been issued in the Western Province during this period.
Meanwhile, 48 licences have been issued in the Southern Province, 32 licences in the Northern Province, 22 licences in the Eastern Province and 45 licences in the Central Province have been issued respectively.
Chief Government Whip Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa stated that the information related to the issuance of liquor licences will be tabled today. Therefore, I am presenting that information now. The Presidential Secretariat, representing the Finance Ministry has provided a report on the issuance of new excise licences after January 1, 2024.
However, the Secretary to the President has informed the Department not to issue liquor licences until further notice. I tabled the letter sent to the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance on October 22.
During this period, the total number of licences issued in the Western Province is 110, 48 licences in the Southern Province, 32 licences in the Northern Province, 22 licences in the Eastern Province, 45 licences in the Central Province, 14 licences in the North Central Province , 30 licences in the North Western Province, 30 licences in the Uva Province, 30 licences in the Sabaragamuwa Province have been issued respectively. Altogether, 361 licences have been issued during this period. Wine stores in Sri Lanka are licensed under the FL 4 category which is a retail license.172 such licences have been issued during this period.
These 172 F/L licences includes 22 licences in Colombo, 18 licences in Gampaha, nine licences in Kalutara, nine licences in Galle, five licences in Matara, five licences in Hambantota, five licences in Jaffna, 16 licences in Kilinochchi, no licences in Mullaitivu, two licences in Vavuniya, 02 licences in Mannar, four licences in Trincomalee, one license in Batticaloa, five licences in Ampara, eleven licences in Kandy, six licences in Matale, eight licences in Nuwara Eliya, four licences in Anuradhapura, three licences in Polonnaruwa, six licences in Puttalam, eight licences in Kurunegala, nine licences in Badulla, seven licences in Moneragala, six licences in Ratnapura and two licences in Kegalle.
“It was with these permits that the MPs’ names were changed to ‘Bar Kumar’. I would like to state that these were used as political bribes to switch parties, as was said by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe”.
“We were able to conduct this debate in a positive manner to raise the level of Parliament. Many of those who came to Parliament as new MPs presented their views positively today. There was an era when the people of our country condemned the Parliament. But the past chaos was not seen in this Parliament now. We did not condemn any MP from the opposition party,” he said.
