19 tons of rotting rice found at a Sathosa warehouse

Colombo (News 1st) -  More than 19,000 kilograms of rice unsuitable for human consumption were discovered from a Sathosa storage facility in Colombo today (Feb 3). The discovery was made when the National Organizer of the All Ceylon Farmer Federation, Namal Karunaratne and several others inspected a Sathosa storage facility in Colombo today. Around 10,000 kilograms of rice that could be classified as animal feed and approximately 19,739 kilograms of rice unsuitable for human consumption and animal feed were discovered. When the group visited the premises, a stock of rice was in the process of being distributed. Speaking to reporters Karunaratne noted that these unsuitable stocks should have been destroyed. He also questioned why rice stocks were stored in this manner when the country was going through a shortage of rice. Karunaratne also raised questioned as to why authorities took steps to import such large quantities of rice at times when there was a surplus. Karunaratne noted that there could be a financial fraud here stating that commissions are usually paid to Ministers and officials who import such stocks of rice. Namal Karunaratne also believes that the stock of rice was imported prior to 2018 even though the stamps on the stocks not that they were imported in 2018.