Two former Deputy Chief Secretaries of the Southern Provincial Council who were arrested on Tuesday (July 28) by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) have been released on bail by the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court.
The arrests relate to an alleged procurement irregularity involving the purchase of 408 armless plastic chairs from a private institution in Galle in 2019, Ada Derana reported.
According to investigations, the procurement process had allegedly been carried out without obtaining the approval of the then Governor.
The suspects were identified as the former Deputy Chief Secretary (Finance) and the former Deputy Chief Secretary (Planning and Operations) of the Southern Provincial Council Chief Secretary’s Office. NewsFirst named the two men as Poddivila Kankananage Sunil and Vidura Prasanna, reporting that they were accused of bypassing standard procurement procedures in the purchase.
CIABOC is continuing its investigation into the alleged irregularities.
The case is the latest in a series of arrests connected to procurement carried out under the Southern Provincial Council. Former Southern Province Chief Secretary Rannulu Chandrasiri de Soysa was arrested by the Bribery Commission on July 24 over a separate 2019 chair-procurement deal worth Rs. 16.5 million, in which the commission alleges a manufacturing company was selected outside the prescribed procurement process. Former Southern Province Chief Minister Shan Wijayalal De Silva was arrested in connection with the same Rs. 16.5 million project in June.
Provincial council member allocations, intended to fund community-level projects, have come under sustained scrutiny from the anti-graft body in recent months.
