Gammanpila misleads the country: Vijitha Herath

Vijitha Herath said that the then Petroleum Minister Arjuna Ranatunga had obtained cabinet approval to hand over the tanks to India, but no agreement had been signed.

He said it was true that the Sri Lankan government had agreed to develop oil tanks with India and that letters had been exchanged between JR Jayewardene and Rajiv Gandhi in this regard, however, no legal agreement had been signed so far.

"India wanted to include such a condition in the Indo-Lanka Accord as JR was planning to supply oil tanks to the United States," he said.

Herath said the committee, appointed by a special act in 2003, had issued a license to the IOC to use the tanks in 2003, adding that the transfer of ownership of the tanks was not a legal agreement.