Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga has returned four of the allocated fleet of vehicles for her office to the Presidential Secretariat considering the financial constraints of the government.
She said in a letter addressed to Secretary to the President P. B. Jayasundara that she had been allocated nine vehicles for her personal use and another three vehicles for her security division and four of the twelve vehicles were returned.
“Under the circumstances, when the Government informed us that they have serious financial constraints, I have decided to return four of the 12 vehicles allocated to me,” her letter dated on July 3rd said.
The fleet of vehicles returned included a Mercedes Benz Car (Model S600), Nissan Patrol Jeep, Mahendra Double Cab and Toyota Land Cruiser-Jeep.
She also stated that she will also return another of the 8 remaining vehicles.
The letter also stated;
"I wish to further inform you that when vehicles No. 2 and 3 (Nissan Petrol Jeep and Mahendra Double Cab) were sent to the President's Office by my office, the relevant officials there insisted that some small repairs to the body of the vehicle be carried out before we returned it to them. The vehicles are fully insured and the repairs could have been undertaken by the President's Office. However, as they refused to do this, both vehicles are being repaired and will be sent to you within the next one week."
