A high level investigation is reportedly being carried out the disappearance of Rs. 6.75 billion from a Rs. 25 billion allocation towards the payment of Samurdhi allowances for low-income families.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has ordered the Finance Ministry to conduct the inquiry and the Premier’s office is to directly intervene in the matter, the media has reported.
This is the first time the Prime Minister’s office is looking into a financial irregularity in a government ministry.
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The budget had allocated Rs. 25 billion to the Social Welfare and Social Empowerment Ministry during the tenure of Minister S.B. Dissanayake.
The monthly allocation was Rs. 2.08 billion, but in the first three months of this year, as much as Rs. 13 billion of the money had reportedly been spent.
These details have been revealed in a report summoned after the UNP took over this ministry.
Meanwhile, top officials appointed by Dissanayake to oversee the Samurdhi subject have now been removed from their positions.
