UPFA MP Anura Priyadharshana Yapa on Saturday (21) said that he presented before the Police Special Investigations Unit (SIU) not as a suspect but only to give a statement pertaining to an ongoing investigation.

He was questioned by the Police Special Investigations Unit (SIU) in connection with the Rs 35 million loss allegedly incurred by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), during his tenure as Minister of Petroleum Industries.

Speaking to a local radio channel, he stressed that SIU questioned on the loss and he told them that he has no idea about it.

“I don’t know about the agreement made by the Petroleum Corporation. Officers of the corporation must take the responsibility over those decisions. Ministers take policy decisions. It is the officers who carry them out” he said.

Yapa also explained the decision to hire a small vessel on rent basis from a private company to unload fuel, after the buoy of an oil tanker was damaged off Colombo port. He said that the decision was taken after obtaining cabinet approval, and added that it was done with the well being of the public in mind.