News
Rs. 9.4 million breakfast bill cooked up story
07 Jul, 2015
The office of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa says the allegation that?Rajapaksa and his family had ordered breakfast for over Rs. 9.4 million from a Colombo five star hotel and not paid the bill, is false.
Former UNP parliamentarian Nalin Bandara had said at a press conference yesterday that the Rajapaksa family had ordered breakfast for over Rs. 9.4 million from The Hilton Hotel and not paid the bill.
This was supposed to be the cost incurred for a single family meal. He had produced a document from the Hilton Hotel to prove the allegation and wanted to know why public funds had been spent on a family breakfast.
Rajapaksa’s office said that the document Bandara had produced was a pro-forma invoice dated 11 November 2013 to provide breakfast for 1400 guests at the rate of Rs. 5,200 per head during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) opening ceremony at the Nelum Pokuna on 15 November 2013.
The total bill with the service charge and taxes amounts to over Rs. 9.4 million. The CHOGM 2013 opening ceremony was attended by Prince Charles and the heads of state or government of 53 nations.
“This was not a Rajapaksa family breakfast,” ?Rohan Welivita,?Media Coordinating Secretary?to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.
He said that it would be obvious to any rational person that Rs. 9.4 million could not possibly have been incurred on a family breakfast and that this is very similar to the highly exaggerated allegations heard during the last presidential election.
Rajapaksa’s office said that some quarters are trying to win the upcoming parliamentary election through false propaganda ? the same way they won the January presidential election. (Colombo Gazette)
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