The Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, the previous Member said no Government built vegetable cold storage for years—not even under Hon. Anura Dissanayake as Agriculture Minister. But President Anura Kumara Dissanayake just opened “Prabhashwara,” Sri Lanka’s first 5,000 MT agri warehouse. Let that be noted.

¶ 02 Today I focus on one item: increasing the advance (entrapment) payment from Rs. 50 million to Rs. 150 million for agents who act as undercover operatives in Bribery Commission investigations. This is important. We must support anti-corruption across party lines. Yesterday at the Committee on Public Finance—where you, Hon. Presiding Member, were present—we approved raising it to Rs. 150 million, committing support.

¶ 03 Just now a news alert: an OIC in Vavuniya arrested for taking a Rs. 500,000 bribe. While we pursue big corruption, people expect us to fulfill promises against corruption.

¶ 04 I will raise three issues. First, the e-Visa matter. Under my chairmanship, on 2024.07.12 we tabled the report “Outsourcing Online Visa and Passport Application Services between the Consortium and the Department of Immigration and Emigration of Sri Lanka.” It was over 160 pages and tabled under heavy pressure. The conclusion: absence of competitive bidding prevented obtaining best value for money. We recommended a comprehensive forensic audit by the Auditor-General. We still haven’t received it, nearly a year later. No one on the Government side talks about it. A police officer who took Rs. 500,000 is remanded for years, but what action here?

¶ 05 This case was filed on 2024-07-29 by Hon. Rauff Hakeem, Hon. Patali Champika Ranawaka, and Hon. Sumanthiran, as Members of COPF. The Supreme Court granted leave to proceed and issued interim orders suspending the Cabinet Decision of 11.09.2023 on eVisa and related services. Former CG of Immigration, Harsha Ilukpitiya, is in remand for not implementing the interim order. But what of the wider investigation? They charged USD 25 for what could have been done for USD 1. Why no accountability? They touted USD 200 million investment—none materialized. The country was sent down a wrong path.

¶ 06 Today’s Daily Mirror carries a full-page ad: “Failure To Disclose Conflict of Interest May Result In 7 Years of Rigorous Imprisonment For Public Officials,” sponsored by the Bribery Commission with the Government of Japan and UNDP. Japan has long flagged corruption concerns.

¶ 07 We hear the Constitutional Council rejected the President’s nominee for Auditor-General due to conflict-of-interest concerns. Why appoint someone other than the most senior in the State Audit Service? The reported nominee is/was a Director of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. How can such a person be Auditor-General? If conflicts must be disclosed or face seven years’ imprisonment, why was such a nomination attempted?

¶ 08 Conflicts are everywhere: the Chairman of SriLankan Airlines is a sitting Director of Hayleys; a Director of the Salt Corporation owns a private salt company; the President’s chief economic advisor heads a private audit firm. Insider information can create actual, potential, or presumed conflicts. If not disclosed and managed, it’s punishable.

¶ 09 My second point: the Sobadanavi power plant. A Cabinet Paper dated January 31 from the Ministry of Energy cites a combined-cycle dual-fuel plant with a levelized cost of Rs. 208 per unit. Then, on March 18, they reduced the rooftop solar buy-back tariff for 100–500 kW from Rs. 27.60 to Rs. 15.49, arguing that if LNG power from Sobadanavi is Rs. 20, why pay Rs. 27 for rooftop? But the Cabinet Paper shows the levelized cost at Rs. 208 per unit, not Rs. 20—so what is the basis for slashing rooftop tariffs?

¶ 10 Hon. Presiding Member, I have tabled the relevant documents. We need coherent, transparent policy rooted in facts, with conflicts managed and procurement done competitively. That is how we truly fight corruption and deliver value.