Numerous Cases Of Corruption And Abuse Of Resources At National Youth Services Council Surface At COPE Meeting

November 17, 2021

The Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has uncovered a number of allegations of corruption, fraud and irregularities amounting to tens of millions of rupees in the National Youth Services Council.

The National Youth Services Council (NYSC) has spent more than Rs 350 million above the estimated budget for the 'Yowunpura' programme.

The Committee also noted that the Sri Lanka Youth Services Pvt. Ltd. had not prepared a consolidated plan since 2017.

Prof. Charitha Herath said that there was a delay in the submission of the annual reports of the National Youth Services Council to Parliament and questioned the officials regarding the non-submission of the annual reports of the Sri Lanka Youth Services Pvt.

The Committee directed the Ministry of Youth and Sports to submit all such reports to Parliament expeditiously.

Although it was decided to construct the Nilwala Youth Park in Matara by a Cabinet decision, the Committee paid special attention to the failure to conduct a feasibility study in that regard. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development Rs. The Committee also discussed the payment of over Rs. 7.6 million as consultancy fees in the year 2014.

The Committee also drew attention to the payment of Rs. 1,932,000 for 1773 T-shirts without the recommendation of the Technical Committee for distribution to the youth who participated in the Youth National Program held in 2016. The T-shirts had been distributed after the date of the event

Another report revealed that a recommendation had been made to remove 268,000 leaflets printed during the year 2017 at a cost of over Rs. 18 million.