Saturday Oct 25, 2025
Saturday Oct 25, 2025
Saturday, 25 October 2025 01:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
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| Dr. Harsha de Silva |
SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday told Parliament that Members of Parliament have received the special audit report on Sri Lanka’s controversial e-visa contract by the Department of Immigration and Emigration.
De Silva, who chairs the Committee on Public Finance, said the report contains nine key recommendations and urged that they be implemented without delay.
The report, prepared by Acting Auditor General G.H.D. Dharmapala, calls for several reforms to ensure legal and financial accountability in the visa issuance process.
It highlights the need for legal clarity under the Immigration and Emigration Act of 1948, continuous technological upgrades to improve service delivery, and adherence to proper tender procedures when outsourcing services.
The audit also emphasises the importance of cost-effectiveness studies and transparency in revenue collection when engaging with private service providers.
It recommends investigations into officials who approved the e-visa contract without financial oversight, and recovery of any losses sustained by the Government.
Among its key recommendations, the report calls for determining the legality of outsourcing arrangements and ensuring compliance with Sri Lankan tax and regulatory frameworks and reviewing the actions of officials involved in approving and implementing the project without the Finance Ministry’s input or proper permissions for collecting visa revenue in foreign accounts.
It also calls for calculating and recovering lost Government income linked to the contract and selecting a new e-visa service provider through a transparent, competitive process once pending court cases are resolved.
The Auditor General has noted that the review was conducted within the limits of available authority and information, and recommended that any further probe into potential illegal activity be referred to specialised investigative bodies.
