A Disaster Relief Services Officer attached to the Monaragala District has been dismissed following allegations of misusing compensation funds provided for victims of Cyclone Ditwah, the Government Information Department said on Monday.
The Grama Niladhari officer linked to the same allegations has been transferred to another division to allow the investigation to proceed unhindered, according to the Department.
A formal inquiry into the irregularities is currently underway, although no further details on the scale of the alleged misappropriation or the identities of those under investigation have been made public.
The administrative action follows the suspension of the Disaster Relief Services Officer and the initial transfer of the Grama Niladhari announced on May 17, after Monaragala residents accused officials of demanding commission payments to release relief cheques. One complainant alleged a Rs. 100,000 commission was forcibly skimmed from a Rs. 2 million cheque after officials escorted her to a bank and instructed her on the withdrawal amount.
Monaragala was among the worst-hit districts in the November 2025 storm. The government has since announced a June deadline for displaced-family resettlement coordination, Rs. 500 billion in promised reconstruction spending and temporary shelter rollouts for 500 families by month-end, with the Monaragala allegations remaining the first publicly disclosed commission-extraction case in the relief distribution chain.
