Colombo, June 21 -- Investigators probing the controversial Chinese fertiliser deal will focus on conflicting laboratory reports, particularly how the National Plant Quarantine Services (NPQS) detected the microorganism Erwinia in samples from Qingdao Seawin Biotech-findings later disputed by a Singaporean lab.

Sri Lanka rejected the stock imported during the time of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on the basis that it contained the microorganism called 'Erwinia'

However, the Chinese supplier said later at that time that the stock of organic fertiliser shipped to Sri Lanka that plant, animal or human pathogens including Erwinia, was not detected in the samples tested in a laboratory in Singapore.

The company said later that the "un...