The President’s Media Division (PMD) has rejected reports that 3,089 people were accommodated inside Presidential Residences in 2025, clarifying that the figure cited in the Auditor General’s report referred to officials temporarily accommodated in separate buildings within the respective premises for operational purposes.
The clarification followed media reports based on the Auditor General’s report for 2025, which stated that only three meetings had been held at seven Presidential Palaces during the year, while 3,089 persons had stayed at the premises.
In a statement issued on Saturday (25), the PMD described reports alleging that outsiders had been accommodated at Presidential Residences as “entirely false and misleading”.
It said officers attached to the security services, the President’s Media and other official institutions had, on various occasions, been provided temporary accommodation in other buildings located within the premises of the Presidential Residences solely to meet official operational requirements.
“No individual was accommodated inside any Presidential Residence,” the PMD said, stressing that the officers concerned had stayed only in separate buildings within the respective premises.
Meanwhile, the Auditor General’s report revealed that Rs. 32,982,675 had been spent on electricity, telephone charges and other expenses relating to seven Presidential Palaces during 2025, despite only three meetings being held at those locations during the year.
The audit further found that no meetings had been held or overnight stays recorded at the official residences in Kataragama, Mahiyanganaya and Bentota during 2025. Nevertheless, Rs. 2,447,754 had been incurred on electricity, telephone and other expenses relating to the three residences.
The audit also identified 357 excess items belonging to 130 categories and 1,446 missing items belonging to 176 categories at the Presidential Secretariat.
In addition, Rs. 645,376 in festival, disaster and special loans recoverable from four officers who had left the service between 2019 and 2024 remained unrecovered as of 25 May 2026.
The Auditor General further noted that although investigations had been initiated under the Financial Regulations into losses and damage caused to buildings and inventory at the Presidential Secretariat during the 9 July 2022 public protests, those inquiries had not been completed by the end of the review period.
