The Free Lawyers Organisation has asked the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) to open a separate parliamentary investigation into the alleged misappropriation of USD 2.5 million from the Treasury, opening a third committee track on a heist that has so far stalled in the Committee on Public Finance.
The request was made in writing to COPA Chairman Kabir Hashim, the organisation’s representative Ranjith Keerthi Tennakoon told a media briefing in Colombo on Saturday. He said an earlier written complaint to the Speaker of Parliament had drawn no response and no acknowledgment.
Tennakoon also took aim at the existing parliamentary inquiry, saying no meaningful progress had been achieved through COPF chaired by Harsha de Silva. He alleged the Finance Ministry had granted Treasury Secretary Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma a one-month period to submit relevant documents — which he characterised as an attempt to delay the matter.
The Free Lawyers want a “transparent investigation” through COPA centred on the Auditor General, with proceedings open to both the public and the media. COPA, which scrutinises government expenditure and audit findings, sits alongside COPF as one of two financial oversight committees in Parliament.
The COPA petition is the latest in a series of escalating Free Lawyers demands that have included the Treasury Secretary’s resignation, twenty-two written questions to the President, and a warning of parliamentary action over the secretary’s COPF non-attendance. The case sits inside a wider accountability cycle that includes travel bans on five interdicted officials, an active CID investigation, and an FBI-assisted international probe that the government confirmed this week.
Source: Ada Derana.
