Former Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture B. Wijayaratne has been summoned by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) and recorded a statement on Monday in connection with a Rs. 1.26 billion private-building lease taken on by the ministry, NewsFirst reported.
The former top official appeared before the Commission at around 9:00 a.m. to give his statement on allegations that the building had been obtained on a rental basis in violation of established government procurement procedures and without adequate transparency. The investigation centres on the lease of a privately owned DPJ building used by the Ministry of Agriculture, reportedly at a significantly elevated cost.
The Auditor General’s Department had flagged the transaction earlier and recommended a formal and comprehensive investigation into the actions of officials involved in securing the lease between 2015 and 2019. The audit raised concerns about the financial prudence and procedural compliance of the agreement. According to the audit, the Ministry of Agriculture had access to approximately one hectare of state-owned land in Battaramulla on which it could have built a government office, but officials instead chose to lease the private property at a monthly rental of Rs. 21 million. Over five years, the total cost came to Rs. 1.26 billion.
The Wijayaratne questioning is the latest entry in the CIABOC docket that has run through this cycle, alongside the long-running probes of former CBSL Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, opposition figures including Basil Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Rs. 7.8 million prosecution and Namal Rajapaksa’s Krrish criminal-breach-of-trust trial set for July 7.
