Close on the heels of the USD 2.5 mn theft from the Treasury, the Welfare Benefits Board has reported payment of nearly Rs 500 mn in excess to Aswesuma beneficiaries.

Public action group ‘Free Lawyers’ has raised the latest fiasco to come to light with Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne, while requesting that the Parliament, in line with its constitutional obligations, initiate an inquiry.

The letter, dated 06 May, signed by Maithree Gunaratne, PC, Attorney-at-Law Athula de Silva, and Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, on behalf of ‘Free Lawyers’, has alleged that some of the Aswesuma beneficiaries have been paid twice while others received the additional/extra payment.

Responding to The Island queries, Tennakoon said that sheer negligence on the part of those responsible for public finance was shocking.

Alleging that the NPP government seemed to be operating outside basic rules and regulations pertaining to public finances, the former Governor asked the Speaker whether the wrongful Aswesuma payments had been made due to political appointments made at the expense of the experienced and competent staff. (SF)

NDF MP Ravi Karunanayake on Tuesday (05) raised in Parliament what he described as a matter of “grave national importance”, alleging a financial fraud amounting to approximately Rs. 13.2 billion at the NDB Bank, spanning the financial years 2024, 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.

Raising the issue under Standing Order 27(2), Karunanayake called for an urgent response from the Finance Minister, warning that the incident posed serious concerns over regulatory oversight, financial system integrity and statutory accountability under the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Act No. 16 of 2023.

He questioned how the Central Bank of Sri Lanka had failed to detect or act upon, what he termed, a large-scale fraud over a period exceeding three years, despite its supervisory mandate.

Karunanayake further claimed that at least two banks had reported suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit, as far back as 16 months, prior to the public disclosure, and queried why such alerts had allegedly gone unacknowledged or unaddressed under Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) obligations.

He also sought clarification on whether investigations had uncovered involvement of other banks or non-bank financial institutions, and the extent of exposure across the wider financial system.

Referring to reports of more than 2,700 CEFT transactions, the MP questioned the failure of the national payment infrastructure, including LankaPay, to trigger alerts, raising concerns over the enforcement of real-time monitoring and reconciliation mechanisms.

Karunanayake called for disclosure of the total value of dividends withheld during the period in question and the impact on institutional shareholders, including the Employees’ Provident Fund, Employees’ Trust Fund and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation.

He requested an estimate of total fiscal losses to the Government, including direct and indirect tax losses and issues relating to recoverability.

The MP also queried whether any funds had been transferred overseas or via cryptocurrency channels, and if so, how such transactions had been effected without exchange control approval, and what recovery actions were underway.

In addition, Karunanayake sought details on the decline in share price and market capitalisation of the bank following disclosure of the alleged fraud, and the corresponding loss in market value.

He also raised concerns over the appointment of a forensic auditor by the Central Bank, warning of a potential conflict of interest, and called on the government to consider appointing an independent auditor under the authority of the President in his capacity as Minister of Finance.

The government asked for two week time to respond to the MP’s questions.

By Saman Indrajith

The SJB yesterday urged that investigations into the controversial death of a senior state official be handed over to Scotland Yard, claiming that there were serious doubts about the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Raising the matter in Parliament, Colombo District MP Mujibur Rahuman said there were unresolved issues concerning the death of Deputy Director Ranga Nishantha, of the Department of External Resources of the Treasury.

Rahuman alleged that conflicting statements issued by authorities had undermined public trust in the investigation. He claimed that the deceased, identified as Ranga Rajapaksa, had sustained severe cut injuries, but the police had prematurely concluded that he had committed suicide.

“It is the responsibility of Judicial Medical Officers to determine the cause of death. They cannot determine how the death occurred,” Rahuman told the House. “They can only state the cause of death. The manner of death must be determined by the coroner. That is where the suspicion lies.”

The MP also questioned procedural constraints on parliamentary scrutiny, alleging that time allocated for debate on the matter had been curtailed. “When we requested a two-hour debate, only one and a half hours was granted. Is this an attempt to suppress discussion and conceal the truth?” he asked.

Rahuman said that in Anuradhapura a death, initially attributed to a snakebite, had subsequently been found to be murder, as investigations found that a snake had been placed on the victim’s bed to mislead the police.