Lanka-e-News -31.Oct.2014, 4.30PM
The
Indian Coal Supplier who is accused of creating a loss for CEB
is – Taurian Iron & Steel Co.Pvt Ltd. This company is in existence from
1997. It fully owned by Sumit Bajla & Amith Bajla brothers who are based in
Mumbai – NO SRI LANKAN OWNS ANY SHARE OR WORKS FOR THIS COMPANY.
(www.tauriansteel.com)
The
company does not have any local agent. This is the reason the CEB did not award
the last tender to this company though they were USD 50 million cheaper than
the current supplier. The secretary of the ministry of power brought in a rule
to say that all participants must have a local agent and disqualified Taurian
from the race despite the Presidential Appeal Board verdict of the award for
Taurian.
The Coal
Mafia of Sri Lanka consists of – Supplier : Noble Resources (who is supplying
coal from day one to Sri Lanka. The past two years at their same high price
cancelling any tender which was floated), Local Agent – Ravi Wijeratne (Casino
Owner), Power Ministry Secretary Ferdinando (Crony of Ravi Wijeratne) &
Journalist FarazSauketaley (Sunday Leader, PR Agent of Crown Casino of Ravi
Wijeratne).
The coal
mafia ensures that NO other company supply any coal to Sri Lanka. The below
story is a result of the well planned strategy of this mafia.
The
Story;
02 ships
of Noble Resources – Half Unloaded – Gets stranded in bad weather in
Norochchole. Emergency situation where any delay will result in coal catching
fire. No unloading is possible for 06 more months (Monsoon). Lanka Coal Company
(State Owned) & Ceylon Shipping Corporation (State Owned) makes desperate
plea to coal mafia to help by taking the vessels out and bring them back after
monsoon.
The coal
mafia which makes all the money with the coal supply does not bother to help.
They tell government to fly a kite and just pay for the coal. No solutions
given.
LCC &
CSC goes around the world, trying to look for someone to help. And only company
which came in for rescue was Taurian.
Taurian
says that they will take the 02 ships back, bring the same quantity back after
monsoon but to compensate for the extra costs involved (Freight charges of
taking the ships back and returning which will well over USD 3 Million) they be
given 03 more ships of supply (At the same Noble Contract terms & Pricing).
Taurian
signs proper, legal contract with CSC as agreed by LCC (and Definitely with the
knowledge of then Minister) and takes the 02 ships away.
THIS
UPSETS THE COAL MAFIA BECAUSE THEY NOW KNOW THAT A SECOND PLAYER IS ENTERING AS
A SUPPLIER INTO SRI LANKA.
After 06
months, Taurian innocently brings back the 02 ships, expecting to get the LC’s
for 03 more ships.
Coal
Mafia (Faraz) writes full page articles continuously (Sunday Leader) mentioning
the the coal of Taurian is low quality. Ferdinando acts as per the plan and
stops the unloading of the coal.
Taurian
Submits the Load Port Test Certificate which certifies that the quality of the
coal is good. Coal Mafia manipulates the local SGS certificate to show that the
quality is poor.
As per
the contract, CEB sends the third party samples to a “Neutral Testing Agency”
in Indonesia which confirms that the coal is indeed good.
Ferdinando
gets stumped, refers the matter to CID then to the Attorney General. Attorney
General very correctly says that Taurian is not at fault and to implement the
contract – Means give 03 more ships to Taurian and then conclude the contract –
This way LCC would have got their entire coal back.
But
NO ACTION WHATSOEVER is taken by LCC, CEB or CSC for the fear of Ferdinando.
Contract is ignored and incomplete and no one speaks about it for two years
(Due to the influence of the Coal Mafia) until this week.
There is
no major bad quality scenario (of any it must be technically proven and
contractually recovered from Taurian) or Corruption aspect on the Taurian deal.
The real corruption is with the Coal Mafia and now they are diverting the
attention towards Taurian misleading the public and also to frame the former
minister with baseless allegations.
It is
such a joke that a state owned company violates a signed contract with a
foreign company SIMPLY BASED ON A SUNDAY LEADER ARTICLE.
TAURIAN
Has
signed a contract, if Taurian has breached this contract, it is a simple matter
of implementing the contract or taking legal action against them – Why was any
of these not done for the last two years?????
Noble
– Coal Mafia
First tender
must have been awarded to Holcim but was won by Noble violating procedures.
Supplies
at a very high price (CEB loses 25 Million USD minimum annually).
Period
covered by the first tender ended 02 years ago. But they continue to supply.
Last two
tenders (one won by Taurian, the other won by Swiss/Singapore) cancelled by
Ferdinando.
Noble is
blacklisted by Pakistan government for these same practices.
Never
supplies on time or supplies the agreed quantities – Last season they were
supposed to bring 700,000MT but brought only 300,000MT.
Future
Right
thinking people must campaign to run a legitimate tender and award the coal
supply contract to a lowest responsive bidder – Breaking the Noble Monopoly.
Either
implement the Taurian contract or legally correct it instead of sitting doing
nothing and instead of misleading public with baseless stories mentioning
Taurian thus letting the real culprits get away.
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