Three civic and political groups staged separate protests in Colombo on Monday over the alleged diversion of a USD 2.5 million government loan repayment to an unknown external party — the first time street-level demonstrations have accompanied parliamentary criticism of the Treasury cyber heist.
The Sarvajana Balaya party gathered in front of the Ministry of Finance premises, expressing opposition to the alleged incident in which a loan instalment owed by the government to a foreign entity was reportedly redirected to an external account, Ada Derana reported.
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) staged a separate protest in front of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), condemning the same incident. A third demonstration was held outside the Central Bank by the Aragalaye Purawesiyo (“Citizens of Aragalaya”) group.
The simultaneous mobilisations mark a qualitative shift in the accountability pressure on the Treasury heist story. Earlier coverage centred on parliamentary criticism — including the SJB’s call for cover-up probes, Mawbima Janatha Pakshaya leader Dilith Jayaweera’s claim that the loss “cannot be attributed to hackers”, and the Free Lawyers Forum’s demand that the Treasury Secretary resign. Monday’s protests are the first instance of multiple opposition and civic groups taking the issue to the streets on the same day.
The original fraud — first publicly confirmed by the government earlier this month — involved a USD 2.5 million payment that was misdirected after hackers compromised an Australian Export Finance Agency email channel. Five officials from the Treasury, Central Bank and the IT division have been interdicted, and a parliamentary committee on public finance is set to summon the Finance Secretary on April 28 to address Opposition allegations that 99% of the lost funds remain unrecovered.
