In January 2015, the Department of Measurement Units, Standards and Services had instructed the CPC to replace them, warning that failure to do so would result in the pumps being sealed.

The then CPC managing director got his officials to randomly check 495 pumps and found that 40 of them pumped fuel erratically.

His report had been sent to the petroleum ministry secretary.

After 09 January 2015, a businessman linked to the government had influenced the CPC through the ministry to buy a stock of pumps from him.

The CPC has nearly 1,200 filling stations, most of them in the western province.

After the Lanka IOC came into the scene in 2002, all filling stations were provided with equipment free of charge.

Due to competition, the CPC imported low-quality, cheap pumps from China and distributed them to its filing stations.

These pumps are substandard and like toys, say CPC employees, while most of them have not been approved by the Department of Measurement Units, Standards and Services.