The Free Lawyers Organisation has directed 22 open questions to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the Cabinet over what it called a five-day delay in formally reporting the alleged USD 2.5 million Treasury cyberattack to a Magistrate’s Court, escalating a campaign that began with a public call for the Finance Secretary to resign.
The organisation said investigators have so far not recorded statements from the suspended officers connected to the incident, and demanded “clear and transparent responses” from both the President — who also holds the Finance, Digital Affairs, Planning and National Security portfolios — and the Cabinet.
The questions begin by asking whether the President accepts that USD 2.5 million has been “misplaced or stolen” from the Treasury, and whether he was made aware of the September 6, 2025 cyberattack on the Finance Ministry’s data system. They press whether the Treasury Secretary informed him and the Deputy Finance Minister, what action followed, and whether Article 148 of the Constitution was complied with by reporting the matter to Parliament.
A second cluster targets Finance Secretary Harshana Suriyapperuma directly. The organisation asks whether the President accepts that Suriyapperuma is a former JVP/NPP MP with no prior Treasury, finance or planning experience; whether he is allegedly destroying evidence by altering appointments and preliminary investigation reports; and whether the President “continues to have confidence” in him. The final question asks the President to “facilitate a proper investigation by immediately removing” Suriyapperuma from the post.
The intervention sharpens an accountability track that began with the Free Lawyers’ demand that Suriyapperuma resign and parallels the parliamentary push by Sajith Premadasa for a Public Service Commission probe. The Government has framed the breach as phishing-led impersonation, not a system hack, and Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya told reporters in Kandy on April 24 that “a proper inquiry is underway.”
Five Treasury officials have been interdicted; CID and SLCERT investigations remain open.
