The Hon. M. Nizam Kariapper, PC

¶ 01 If time is insufficient, I will request a few more minutes from Hon. Gayantha Karunathilleka.

¶ 02 Hon. Presiding Member, first, I must record my strong displeasure on behalf of the Opposition regarding this morning’s interpretation contrary to Standing Orders. Under Standing Order 19, when 20 Members rise and the motion is adopted, Standing Orders 19(2)(b) and (a) are not applicable. Written notice and prior permission are not required when 20 Members have sought the debate. We regret the Speaker’s earlier, erroneous interpretation.

¶ 03 This is not a mere allegation; it is a damning indictment on the officers of the Ministry of Finance who handled this transaction. Let me outline matters; correct me if I am wrong.

¶ 04 The loss of USD 2.5 million began with an email exchange. A bloody, silly mistake: confusing “.gov.au” with “.com”. Are officers handling millions of dollars unable to distinguish “.com” from “.gov.au”? We all receive scam emails. Even a child knows not to send a cent to such accounts. Yet a senior officer responded to a “.com” email. This was not hacking; it was ignorance—a basic lack of awareness of authentic versus fraudulent domains. The authentic domain was “exportfinance.gov.au”. Had that been hacked, we could call it hacking. But the emails came from “exportfinance.av.com”—even “.av.com” was not recognized. Are our senior Finance Ministry officers so incompetent?

¶ 05 While the Government boasts of a digital economy, officers could not distinguish authentic from fraudulent domains. The Minister of Finance—President Anura Kumara Dissanayake—must take responsibility, express regret to Parliament and the people.

¶ 06 Regarding the tragic death of a senior officer now deceased: we do not wish to cause pain to the family. But note: the post-mortem does not say “suicide”; it says death occurred due to blood loss from arterial severance. If it was suicide, perhaps he deemed his shame greater than his life. Yet, some ministers remain in office despite acts that should cause shame.

¶ 07 Hon. Presiding Member, one core question for the public: This USD 2.5 million belongs to the people. Was it lost due to negligence, or was it stolen by those involved? If negligence, I say it is of a criminal nature.

¶ 08 I will conclude by conveying, on behalf of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Members of Parliament, our greetings to Tamil Nadu’s Ilaiya Thalapathy Vijay on his ascent to Chief Minister.

¶ 09 Thank you.