Chairman of the Magen Ratata organisation, Sanjaya Mahawaththa, has alleged serious financial irregularities in relief sent by Sri Lankans living in Dubai for victims of Cyclone Ditwah, and has filed a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in this regard.
Speaking at a media briefing, Mahawaththa accused YouTuber Ashen Senarathna, who coordinated the relief effort, of misleading the public.
He said the SL Riders group in Dubai, the Ceylon Taste Hotel in Al Khaimah and several other groups had collectively gathered nearly four containers of relief items. However, observations at Sri Lanka Customs yards had confirmed that only about four truckloads of goods had arrived in the country.
Mahawaththa challenged Senarathna to release the relevant shipping documents — the Bill of Lading (BL) or House Bill of Lading (HBL) — related to the shipment, stressing that without these documents, the actual volume of goods sent to Sri Lanka could not be verified.
“Ashen is releasing videos and misleading people. I challenge him to produce the Bill of Lading. Young men and women in Dubai collected goods worth millions. What happened to those goods? The containers appear to have been opened elsewhere and only a portion sent to the Disaster Management Centre,” he said.
Mahawaththa also raised concerns that the consignment had been sent as LCL (less than container load) rather than as full containers (FCL), and questioned whether this was linked to possible tax evasion or the diversion of goods at another location under the guise of humanitarian aid.
He further alleged that while the initiative was the result of collective efforts by Sri Lankan youth in Dubai, Senarathna was portraying it on social media as a solo operation.
