News
Christmas bonanza for MPs
The Treasury has granted approval for Members of Parliament to sell their duty free vehicle permits in the open market.
The move will mean that MPs who are entitled to import a vehicle worth up to US$ 50,000 or around Rs 6.5 million will now be able earn Rs. 20 million rupees by simply selling their permits.
“We had several requests, both from government and opposition MPs to extend this concession to them. Hence we submitted the proposal to the Treasury,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sumedha Jayasena told the Sunday Times.
Last month, the Government allowed state sector officials to sell duty free vehicle permits. However, there was a ceiling of US$ 25,000 on the value of their permits. At least an estimated 15,000 state sector officials are expected to benefit from this move.
MPs were earlier prohibited from selling their duty free vehicle permits or the vehicles they had imported for five years. The vehicles were given to them on the basis that it was for use in their official business.
However, the Customs have come across numerous occasions when such vehicles have changed hands on open transfer papers. The move showed that instead it had become a means of raising money.
The duty free vehicle permits issued to state sector officers earlier fetched about Rs 1.5 million. However, after it was made legal for the state sector officials to sell their duty free vehicle permits, the price had plummeted down to Rs 800,000, Vehicle Importers Association of Sri Lanka Secretary Keerthi Gunawardena said.
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