A former Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna member of the Haguranketha Pradeshiya Sabha has been arrested over an alleged foreign-employment scam involving more than Rs. 21 million, the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) said on Monday.
Officers from the SLBFE Special Investigations Unit took the suspect into custody for allegedly defrauding job seekers by promising employment in Romania’s construction sector. The Bureau said it had received 16 complaints linked to the scheme, with the total amount defrauded estimated at Rs. 21.3 million. The suspect and his wife had collected money from job seekers across several areas, the Bureau said.
The suspect, a Haguranketha resident, had previously worked in Romania for two years before returning to Sri Lanka. SLBFE Special Investigations Unit officers, working with the State Intelligence Service, traced him to a rented house in the Kadugannawa area after he fled Rikillagaskada. He was arrested at the property along with his wife. Both were produced before the Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court and remanded until May 6.
The case adds to a string of foreign-employment fraud arrests in 2026 that have implicated political figures using local-government office to lend credibility to recruitment promises. SLBFE complaints typically involve advance “registration” or processing fees collected for jobs that do not materialise.
Source: NewsFirst.
