Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance (CoPF), Dr. Harsha de Silva, said he had completely rejected a report sent by the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance regarding the controversial US$ 2.5 million financial fraud case, insisting that an attempt to send it solely for his “exclusive personal reference” was wholly unacceptable.
De Silva said the Finance Ministry Secretary had been granted four weeks to submit a detailed report containing all information related to the alleged financial fraud.
However, he revealed that the delayed report had arrived bearing the note: “for the exclusive personal reference of the honorable chairman of the committee only”.
Stressing that he was a democratically elected representative of the people and not acting to pursue a personal agenda as Chair of the Committee on Public Finance, de Silva strongly objected to the move.
He said the report had not been requested for his individual reading, but rather to be presented before and discussed by the Committee on Public Finance. Accordingly, he refused to accept the report sent to his residence and instead had it returned through Parliament.
De Silva further said that following the rejection of the report, nearly one-and-a-half hours of intense debate took place within the committee regarding the next course of action.
Emphasising that parliamentary traditions, professionalism, and accountability must be upheld by officials, he said a new directive had been issued in response to what he described as an attempt to undermine democratic processes.
Accordingly, with the unanimous agreement of all committee members, officials were instructed to submit a fresh report by tomorrow that would be open to the entire parliamentary committee.
He added that once the new report is submitted, committee members will review it and subject it to a formal discussion within the coming days.
De Silva also stressed that such discussions and reports should under no circumstances be concealed from the public, adding that he would not allow responsibility over public finance matters to be shifted onto him personally.
