The Hon. Arun Hemachandra - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment
On behalf of the Minister, Arun Hemachandra tabled a response on airline ticket procurement for migrant workers, stating that after 09 October 2024 quotations were widened beyond Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Agency-registered suppliers to include Civil Aviation Authority-registered suppliers, resulting in lower ticket prices. The response said workers had previously been charged a fixed Rs. 295,000, but actual ticket costs between November 2024 and March 2025 were lower in many cases, leading to Rs. 7.72 million in refunds so far with Rs. 10.48 million still pending. It also provided a sector-wise count of 27,651 Sri Lankan workers in Israel as of 27 October 2025, and noted that CIABOC and the Bureau’s Internal Audit Division are investigating whether fraud occurred, with further action to depend on their findings.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, I table the answer.
¶ 02 Answer tabled: (a) (i) Prior to 09.10.2024, fare quotations for airline tickets were obtained only from suppliers registered with the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Agency (Pvt.) Ltd. With the assumption of office by the new Government, in addition to those suppliers, quotations were also obtained from suppliers registered with the Civil Aviation Authority and agents listed in the telephone directory as registered with the Civil Aviation Authority. Accordingly, tickets were procured at lower prices than previously charged. (ii) The management of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Agency (Pvt.) Ltd. had previously charged a fixed amount of Rs. 295,000 from migrant workers. However, between November 2024 and March 2025, the ticket prices ranged between Rs. 131,040 and Rs. 290,384. Therefore, the excess collected over the actual ticket cost has been refunded to applicants. To date, Rs. 7,723,505 has been refunded, and Rs. 10,480,252 remains to be refunded. Going forward, ticket prices will be determined based on prevailing demand for specific travel dates, and quotations will be obtained following procurement procedures as per requests from the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, with charges to workers based on the quoted prices. (iii) As at 27.10.2025, the number of Sri Lankan workers in Israel by sector is as follows: - Construction: 11,819 - Hotel-related employment: 1,164 - Electrical and repair: 795 - Restaurant employment: 869 - Caregiving: 6,637 - Infrastructure: 238 - Agriculture: 2,819 - Manufacturing: 9 - Trade and services: 1 - Irregular: 3,300 Total: 27,651 (iv) The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption is currently conducting an investigation to determine whether such fraud occurred. The Internal Audit Division of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment is also conducting an inquiry. (v) Further action will be based on the findings of CIABOC’s investigation under File No. CIABOC/1097/2024(D)-3 203 and the internal audit.
¶ 03 (b) Not applicable.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Monday, 17 November 2025 ·No. 22912 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Arun Hemachandra - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 17 November 2025. No. 22912. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/2503