News
PB critical of import restrictions
By Shyam Nuwan Ganewate
President’s Secretary P. B. Jayasundera yesterday said that imports should be relaxed instead of imposing restrictions, in a manner that it would not be harmful to the government policy framework.
Dr. Jayasundera, the Secretary to the Treasury at the height of the war and former top Central Banker, was responding to a query about the CBSL proposal to restrict non-essential imports.
He said he was against the policies adopted by the Central Bank.
Explaining his views on restriction of imports, Dr. Jayasundera said, the importation of certain commodities had to be restricted and one was fuel for which a price mechanism had to be adopted.
“If the government does not ration fuel to the consumer, the country will have to soon change to renewable energy,” the President’s Secretary said.
Dr. Jayasundera asked why a country which spent USD 5,000 mn annually on oil imports could not commission a number of projects to generate renewable energy.
Jayasundera said that hence a certain component of imports such as raw material would be used to re-export as finished products, the imports shouldn’t be restricted and if we are to develop our economy based on information technology, then all imports required to achieve the objective should be allowed.
“The Central Bank has to take the necessary steps for the proper management of foreign exchange reserves and win the confidence of the foreign capital market, manufacturers and specially exporters,” the one time Treasury Secretary said.
He said in the current year, it was expected to increase the exports relating to information technology to reach USD 1.7 billion and increase it further in the future.
The officials of the Central Bank and members of its Monetary Board should change the country to an export oriented economy.
Jayasundera, whose expertise had been used even by previous UNP and SLFP regimes and even by former Treasury Secretaries R. Paskaralingam and A.S. Jayawardena during Presidents Premadasa and Kumaratunga, said that he proposed to the central Bank to introduce a Green Financial facility of Rs. 50 billion and “we must encourage the local banks to adopt such measures”, he said.
“The Central Bank should act as a catalyst in this connection instead of attending to the day to day functions of the bank”, he said.
Dr. Jayasundera said he had sent a set of proposals to the Central Bank in that connection and believed that there would be a positive response from it.
COPF final report on USD 2.5 mn cyber fraud recommends action against all responsible
The US$2.5 million loss incurred during Sri Lanka’s foreign debt repayment to Australia was a clear case of a cybercrime and theft, Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chairman Dr. Harsha de Silva told Parliament yesterday.
Presenting the COPF final report on the cyber fraud, Dr. de Silva said the incident amounted to a serious financial crime and called for a comprehensive investigation, by law enforcement authorities, to identify and prosecute all those responsible.
The report revealed serious governance, procedural and operational failures that enabled the fraudulent transfer of public funds, while recommending sweeping reforms to strengthen cybersecurity, financial controls and public debt management systems.
According to the report, officials of the Treasury and the Central Bank bore responsibility for governance lapses that contributed to the failures. It also highlighted the fact that the Ministry of Finance was operating an outdated Microsoft Exchange Server after security support had ended, while basic safeguards, such as multi-factor authentication, had not been implemented.
The COPF said suspicious payment instructions linked to debt repayments involving India, the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium had also been detected, preventing further losses. However, the US$ 2.5 million fraud materialised only in the repayment transaction involving Australia.
The report has noted that officials had failed to verify lender email domains, relied on unverified email communications and lacked adequate internal controls, allowing the fraud to continue for months.
Although the investigation uncovered system-wide weaknesses across several institutions, only four mid-level Finance Ministry officials had been suspended so far, the report said.
The COPF has recommended a special audit of the foreign debt repayment process, strengthened cybersecurity measures across state institutions, updated financial regulations and improvements to public debt management systems.
by Saman Indrajith
News
Opposition signs no-confidence motion against Justice Minister for dereliction of duty over Negombo Prison deaths
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, together with Opposition MPs, yesterday signed a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) in Parliament against Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara.The move comes in response to the unrest at the Negombo Prison, where both prison officers and inmates were killed.
Opposition members said the Minister had failed to fulfill his responsibility and accountability regarding their safety.According to the Opposition group, the NCM seeks to hold the Minister directly accountable for lapses in ensuring protection within the prison system.
The Attorney General yesterday informed the Supreme Court that the government has decided to review the legality of agreements entered into by the previous administration to hand over the country’s electronic visa issuance operations to private companies.
Additional Solicitor General Viveka Siriwardena, appearing for the Attorney General, made the submission when the Supreme Court took up the fundamental rights petitions filed by former MPs President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran, Patali Champika Ranawaka, and Rauff Hakeem, challenging the previous Cabinet’s decision to outsource the e-visa system.
The petitions were heard before a three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justices Achala Wengappuli and Arjuna Obeyesekere.
The Additional Solicitor General informed court that the current Cabinet had appointed a subcommittee to examine the legality of the agreements with the private companies and requested time to report on its findings, stating that the review was still underway.
President’s Counsel Sumanthiran, appearing as one of the petitioners, told the court that although the present government had indicated its intention to cancel the transaction, the petitioners wished to proceed with the case.
He noted that members of the current Cabinet had been named as respondents in the petitions.The Supreme Court directed the petitioners to issue notice on the members of the current Cabinet, named as respondents, and fixed September 29 for further proceedings.
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US$ 2.5 mn cyber heist exposes system failures
Opposition signs no-confidence motion against Justice Minister for dereliction of duty over Negombo Prison deaths
AG informs SC of e-visa agreement review
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