Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) Chairman Dr. Harsha de Silva said on Wednesday that the public will have to bear the loss of US$ 2.5 million fraudulently transferred from the Treasury to parties outside the country.

Dr. de Silva, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP for the Colombo District, said the government and its law enforcement agencies had made no meaningful progress in recovering the money, despite assurances given in and outside Parliament since the loss came to light. “There has been no update submitted to our Committee or Parliament,” he said.

He said the Treasury would make fresh payments of US$ 2.5 million to the actual creditor, if it had not already done so, from amounts allocated in last year’s Budget. Allocations for foreign debt payments in rupees are usually higher than the exact dollar amount, to cover changes in exchange and interest rates, he said, so he believed no new allocation was needed.

The CoPF chairman also criticised Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickremaratne for not acting on the committee’s recommendation to direct the Auditor General to carry out a forensic audit of the transactions behind the fraud. He said the Speaker instead advised the committee to follow standing orders and send its report to the Ministry of Finance, which it had done.

“Our Committee is yet to be notified as to what action had been taken by them on our recommendations,” Dr. de Silva said. He added that the purpose of a special investigation into a serious matter could not be achieved when key recommendations were disregarded.

Background

The CoPF investigated the loss from the Treasury’s External Resources Department and released its final report in July 2026. According to the committee, funds meant for Export Finance Australia were diverted between December 2025 and January 2026 after fraudsters used a lookalike email domain and altered the payment instructions.

Ranga Nishantha Rajapaksha, an Assistant Director of the External Resources Department at the Ministry of Finance who had been interdicted over the incident, was found dead at his home in Kuliyapitiya on 30 April 2026. A four-member panel of Judicial Medical Officers concluded that his death was a suicide by self-inflicted injuries.

The Committee on Public Finance is a parliamentary committee that examines government spending and financial management and reports to Parliament. The committee said it had sent its report to the Ministry of Finance.

What it means

Government revenue comes mainly from taxes, so a loss of public money that is not recovered is in effect met from the Treasury’s resources. Dr. de Silva said the loss would fall on the public in addition to existing taxes.

The committee has asked for a forensic audit and for an update on recovery, and it has not received either, according to its chairman.