Saturday Aug 23, 2025
Saturday Aug 23, 2025
Saturday, 23 August 2025 00:32 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
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| SOC on Governance, Justice and Civil Protection Chairman MP Dr. Najith Indika |
The Parliament Secretariat yesterday said the National Audit (Amendment) Bill scheduled to be debated in Parliament received the approval of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Governance, Justice and Civil Protection.
The Amendment seeks to move audit findings beyond reports into enforceable penalties, sharpening Sri Lanka’s governance tools at a time of heightened scrutiny over public finances.
The Parliament Secretariat said in a statement that the Amendment aims to make necessary provisions for the Auditor General to file a complaint to a law enforcement authority for legal action in respect of any fraud, corruption, or misappropriation found by the Auditor General in carrying out an audit of an entity.
Moreover, the Amendment Bill also aims to empower the Auditor General to make recommendations to impose a surcharge on the amount of any deficiency or loss in any transaction of an auditee entity to the Surcharge Review Committee.
It also seeks to give power to the Surcharge Review Committee to consider the recommendations made by the Auditor General and to decide the amount to be imposed as a surcharge, and to specify the procedure to be adopted by the Surcharge Review Committee in determining the amount of the surcharge and the recovery of the surcharge.
Following discussions on the above at length, the Committee also took into consideration the Performance Report of the Justice and National Integration Ministry for the Year 2024, the Performance Report of the Justice and Prisons Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Ministry for the Year 2023, Performance Reports of the Attorney General’s Department for the Year 2022 and 2024, and the Annual Performance Report of the Legal Draftsman’s Department for the Year 2023, and approved the same.
The meeting was attended by the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Governance, Justice and Civil Protection Chairman MP Dr. Najith Indika. Also in attendance were MPs Faizar Musthafa, PC, G.G. Ponnambalam, M.K.M. Aslam, Thushari Jayasinghe, Attorney-at-Law, Dr. Sellaththamby Thilaganathan, Darmapriya Wijesinghe, and Chandana Sooriyaarachchi.
