The Chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Public Finance (COPF), Harsha de Silva, has raised the question of whether the alleged hacking of a Treasury debt repayment amounts to a “technical default” on Sri Lanka’s sovereign obligations.
“We are emerging from a default,” de Silva told reporters, referring to the country’s 2022 sovereign default. “If the payment did not go to the creditor country was there a technical default?” He said he had written to the Treasury seeking information after reports that a USD 2.5 million repayment was diverted by a hacker who sent false remittance instructions via email.
De Silva said five payments were supposed to be made to the creditor country but had reportedly not been received, prompting queries from the other side. “I would have preferred to have made this statement in parliament, but unfortunately I didn’t get that opportunity,” he said. He had also earlier raised concerns at the COPF that moving sovereign debt operations from the Central Bank to the Public Debt Management Office at the Treasury had created staffing and expertise gaps.
Deputy Minister of Finance Dr Anil Jayantha confirmed the breach in a separate statement, saying the intrusion involved the computer system of the Department of External Resources and targeted email communications with the Australian Export Finance Agency. The Treasury immediately alerted the Sri Lanka Police Computer Crimes Investigation Division and the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT), and the investigation was traced back to the start of debt-restructuring discussions. An internal committee led by two deputy treasury secretaries was appointed to examine disciplinary issues, and action has already been taken against some officials. Dr Jayantha said further details could not be disclosed without compromising the probe.
The Ministry of Finance earlier said complaints had been filed with law enforcement and the Financial Intelligence Unit. Cabinet Spokesperson Nalinda Jayatissa said on Wednesday that a Treasury statement was forthcoming.
