The President’s Media Division (PMD) has rejected reports claiming that outsiders were being accommodated at official Presidential Residences across the country, describing the allegations as false and misleading.
In a statement carried by the Daily Mirror, the division was responding to reports that unauthorised individuals had been housed at the residences.
The claim originates from the National Audit Office’s latest report, which stated that although the President did not stay at the official Presidential Residences during 2025, a total of 3,089 individuals were accommodated at several of them over the year. The audit report also noted that only three meetings were held at the residences during the period under review.
Responding to the figure, the PMD said the assertion was inaccurate. It said officers attached to the security services, the President’s Media Division and other official institutions had been provided temporary accommodation in separate buildings located within the premises of the Presidential Residences, purely to meet official operational requirements.
No individual had been accommodated inside any Presidential Residence itself, the division said, stressing that the officers concerned stayed only in other buildings on the grounds and not in the residences.
The PMD urged media organisations to exercise responsibility and verify facts before publishing claims relating to official presidential premises, warning that inaccurate reporting on such matters could cause unnecessary public confusion.
The upkeep and use of Sri Lanka’s Presidential Residences has drawn periodic scrutiny, with successive governments facing questions over the cost of maintaining properties that are rarely used by the head of state.
