Sept 08, 2007 (LBO) – A rival bunker supplier has joined the court action challenging the sale of Sri Lanka's then-bunkering monopoly, Lanka Marine Services, which has now emerged as one of John Keells Holdings main money-spinners. Reza in the affidavit also said that the company believes the LMS privatization was fraudulent and not done in a transparent and equitable manner. The Sri Lanka Shipping Group said in a statement that it had filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court through their attorneys Julius & Creasy on Wednesday, September 5 in the action filed by former leftist parliamentarian Vasudeva Nanayakkara.
The group's bunkering subsidiaries Lanka Maritime Services and Lanka Bunkering Services are parties to the action.
Nanayakkara has filed a fundamental rights case demanding the cancellation of the sale of LMS to John Keells Holdings (JKH) in 2002.
He alleged that the sale of prime land near Colombo port with LMS bunker storage tanks had been done fraudulently and that the effective monopoly given to LMS after privatization was also fraudulent.
JKH profited from the LMS bunker supplier's effective monopoly for several years before it was successfully challenged by the Sri Lanka Shipping su
