Thursday Jun 18, 2026
Thursday Jun 18, 2026
Wednesday, 17 June 2026 06:58 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Free Lawyers Association has called for the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the $ 2.5 million Treasury cyber fraud, alleging that the stolen funds remain in a United States bank account and criticising Parliament’s oversight committees for failing to produce reports on the incident.
In separate letters to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne, the Association requested the establishment of a Select Committee to probe the cyber heist and other recent financial irregularities and recommend measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The letters, signed by joint conveners Maithri Gunaratne and Athula de Silva, claim that the stolen funds were transferred to an account held by Mish Global LLC at TD Bank USA. According to the Association, the fraud was discovered after emails relating to the transaction bounced back.
The Association also highlighted discrepancies regarding the value of the loss, noting that while the amount involved in the fraud has been reported as $ 2,509,430, the Auditor General had referred to a figure of $ 203,417.
“In such a situation, it is clear that neither the Central Bank nor the Finance Ministry has proper knowledge and understanding of the heist,” the Association said.
The letters further questioned the implementation of the Public Debt Management framework, alleging that debt settlement operations had commenced before regulations governing the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) had been fully finalised.
The Association also alleged shortcomings in coordination between the Finance Ministry and Central Bank during debt settlement operations.
A key criticism was directed at Parliament’s oversight process, with the Association noting that neither the Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) nor the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) had issued reports following their inquiries into the cyber fraud.
“Both the Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) and Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) had failed to come up with any report on the probe they have conducted on it,” the letters stated.
The Association also said it had sought clarification from the Speaker regarding alleged manipulation of the internal inquiry and transfers of Finance Ministry officials, but had not received a response.
The lawyers described the incident as evidence of weaknesses in the handling of public financial affairs by officials attached to the Central Bank and Finance Ministry.
In addition to the Treasury cyber fraud, the Association called for investigations into several other alleged financial irregularities, including the reported disappearance of Rs. 625,000 from the Postal Department, duplicate Aswesuma payments and an alleged Rs. 13.2 billion fraud involving National Development Bank.
