SJB Gampaha District MP Prasad Siriwardana last week levelled a series of serious allegations, in Parliament, against Deputy Minister of Digital Technology Eranga Weeraratne, accusing him of presiding over a major conflict of interest involving two private technology firms.

Siriwardana told the House that Omobio (Pvt) Ltd., and Eimsky Business Solutions (Pvt) Ltd., companies chaired by Weeraratne, had secured contracts for two major government projects. This, he said, amounted to a textbook case of an office-holder exercising authority over both a Ministry and a private entity operating in the same regulatory space.

Recalling that Weeraratne had faced a software theft accusation, four or five years ago, the MP argued that the current arrangements underscored what he described as the government’s “fake anti-corruption drive.”

Siriwardana said that Eimsky is the primary service provider for the Smart Highway Toll System of the Road Development Authority, with its “Payment Connect” platform supplying

backend technical services for national infrastructure projects. As a result, he said, the backend system handling revenue collection across the Southern Expressway and the Outer Circular Highway is effectively controlled by a company owned by the Deputy Minister.

“Is it fair”, he asked, “for the revenue collection mechanism of a vital national economic asset to be handed over to the private company of a sitting Minister?”

The MP also charged that the Ministry, under Weeraratne’s purview, directly regulates prices and market conditions in the very sector in which his company operates, circumstances, he said, could constitute grounds for disqualification from Parliament.

Siriwardana called for a full investigation into all state contracts awarded to Eimsky and Omobio, either through a special parliamentary select committee or an Auditor General–led probe.

He also reminded the House that, despite loud rhetoric on good governance, the government had yet to appoint an Auditor General.

The situation, Siriwardana warned, raises profound concerns about transparency and fairness, particularly as systems managing public funds, such as expressway tolls and national bus fare platforms, appear to fall under the influence of a company belonging to a senior government office-holder.

Weeraratne responding said that both contracts had been entered into before he was elected to Parliament, during the times of former governments.