The Chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Public Finance, MP Dr. Harsha de Silva, said he is “99% sure” the Finance Ministry’s computer network was not hacked, publicly rejecting the official explanation for the diversion of a US$2.5 million foreign debt repayment.
Dr. de Silva said the COPF will meet on Tuesday, April 28, and a decision will be taken without any party-political differences over the incident. He confirmed that the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance is expected to be summoned before the committee.
“I do not believe at all that hackers have hacked the Ministry of Finance’s computer network. I am 99% sure that this did not happen. This is something else,” Dr. de Silva told reporters. He said the Treasury Secretary’s letter formally claimed “hackers entered the Ministry of Finance’s computer network without authorisation” — language he said he could not accept.
The COPF chairman noted that the issue had initially been framed to the committee as a “technical” payment problem with the Australian government, not a security breach. “We feel that the Parliament should have been informed about this in January,” he said, criticising the delayed disclosure.
Dr. de Silva urged committee members to set aside political considerations. “Don’t forget, this work is about trust. I hope that the members of the committee will not think about this politically and take that responsibility as Members of Parliament, and summon everyone to Parliament as soon as possible, including the Secretary of the Treasury.”
The remarks mark a sharp escalation from his earlier interventions on the case — including a technical default query on April 23 and “gross incompetence” framing — and align him with Dilith Jayaweera and other opposition voices who have publicly disputed the hacker attribution. The April 28 COPF sitting is now the next watchdate in the cyber-heist accountability track.
Source: Ada Derana
