Development and National Lotteries Boards brought back to Finance Ministry

A Gazette notification issued on Thursday by President Maithripala Sirisena has seen the return of the National Lotteries Board and the Development Lotteries Board to the Ministry of Finance.

The two Boards were brought under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when former Minister Ravi Karunanayake was the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Karunanayake resigned from his post on 10 August following a public outcry over alleged links to individuals suspected to be behind the ongoing bond scandal. 

The National Lotteries Board and the Development Lotteries Board have now been brought back under the Ministry of Finance.

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) was among many organisations that protested the transfer and flagged it as illegal under the present laws.  

Executive Director of TISL Asoka Obeyesekere said the assignment of the NLB to a Ministry other than Finance was wrong by law and that it contradicted the intentions of Parliament when they initially passed the Act. 

TISL added that if the NLB was transferred back to its rightful Ministry, the idea of Ministers using national assets for personal benefits could be diminished from society.