Sri Lanka Finance Minister promises speedy probe to trace missing files on large scale projects


Mar 29, 2016

Mar 29, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake says an investigation will be conducted soon in to trace the hundreds of missing financial records on a large number of agreements signed during the previous regime on mega scale projects.

According to the Minister, 220 files with records on a large number of agreements concerning large scale projects have gone missing from the Finance Ministry.

"Around 220 files relating to some projects have gone missing from our ministry. Now we are investigating on what happened to them. Not only us, but even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is shocked over this state of affairs," he said.

"The files on details on loans, costing and planning of major projects and other confirmation records of projects have gone missing," the Minister added.

The Minister claims that these records have disappeared with the government change, and some officers seem to be engaged in deliberate attempts to conceal details.

Mr. Karunanayake said if found to be involved in any such attempts he will initiate legal action against officers who were in charge of such records.


While noting that the public were keeping a close watch on the actions taken by the Government to bring to book those responsible for corruption and malpractices during the previous government, the Minister said that he suspects whether the missing files were linked to attempts at concealing evidence in a bid to safeguard corrupt elements.