Lanka Phosphate faces court scrutiny over alleged irregularities
Lanka Phosphate Ltd company’s (LPL) financial misappropriations and irregularities in rock phosphate mining and selling during previous regimes have been exposed before the courts.
Investigations are now underway into a corrupt deal involving the state owned company over allegedly selling 3,000 metric tons of rock phosphate to three companies for export during the term of the previous government, incurring a loss of Rs. 2.7 billion to the state.
The Illegal Assets Investigation Division (IAID) of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has brought to the notice of the Colombo Magistrate’s Court of the matter and their current probe on a complaint made by a Kurunegala resident.
A sum of Rs.650 million has been spent to construct an 850-metre road inside the phosphate deposit and a factory has been started in a land at Eppawala which belonged to a temple in Kurunegala area without a feasibility study.
The Eppawala apatite deposit situated in the Anuradhapura District in the North Central province was discovered in 1971.
The “Eppawala case,” specifically SC FR 301/23, is a fundamental rights petition filed in the Supreme Court by the Centre for Environmental Justice on November 24, 2023.
This case challenges the licensing process for foreign companies involved in the Eppawala phosphate deposit, alleging irregularities and the use of forged documents.
The petition also claims that the licensing resulted in financial losses for the state. While the case is not explicitly tied to a Kurunegala resident filing the petition, the case does involve residents of Eppawala, including cultivators, landowners, and the Viharadhipati (Chief incumbent of the temple) who are among the petitioners.
They claim that the proposed agreement to mine phosphate in Eppawala infringes on their fundamental rights
LPL has exclusive mining rights over 450 hectares of land in Eppawala, where the rock phosphate deposit is located.
The deposit is currently estimated at 60 million metric tons containing 33-40 per cent of Phosphorous pentoxide (P2O5) and is considered to be one of the richest and unique phosphate deposits in the world.
Currently LPL produces Eppawala Rock Phosphate (ERP) and High-Grade Eppawala Rock Phosphate (HERP) which are used as fertiliser for perennial crops such as tea, rubber and coconut.
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