National Gem and Jewellery Authority spent Rs 2 bn on renting private building without repairing its own – COPE

National Gem and Jewellery Authority (NGJA) has paid a staggering Rs 2 bn for a private building in Colombo to house its staff since 2021 without repairing its own building. The NGJA top administration has admitted that the Central Engineering and Consultancy Bureau (CECB) estimated that the required repairs could be completed at a cost of Rs 21 mn but it resorted to a far costly remedy. This came to light recently when the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) summoned the top management of the NGJA.

The NGJA building had been made unusable due to construction of a shopping mall and the relevant company had offered to pay a monthly rent of Rs 3 mn to acquire a suitable building. However, the NGJA has declined that offer and rented a building at Rs 2 bn, the COPE was told.

The NGJA has moved to the costly building in 2021. The COPE rapped the NGJA for squandering public money at a time the country was in a dire financial state.

The COPE pulled up NGJA for several other irregularities and questionable actions over the past few years. The all party committee also pointed out that NGJA has failed to perform its regulatory functions. Instead NGJA only engaged in business at the expense of the objectives it was originally established for. (SF)