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Treasury chief's citizenship details sought from Australia
New controversy erupts over missing USD 2.5 mn: Public interest activist Nagananda Kodituwakku has sought citizenship details of Finance Ministry Secretary Harshana Suriyapperuma from the Department of Home Affairs, Australia. According to a letter dated 28 April, addressed to the relevant department, Solicitor England and Wales Kodituwakku sought the required information in terms of Section 15 of the Freedom of Information Act No 3 of 1982 of Australia. Suriyapperuma is also the Secretary to the Treasury. The former Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Suriyapperuma (from November 2024 to June 2025) is embroiled in a deepening controversy over the theft of USD 2.5 mn from the Treasury. The leader of the Vinivida Foundation said that he intended to move court against Suriyapperuma for entering Parliament through the NPP National List in violation of the country’s Constitution (Article 91(1)(d)(xiiii). Kodituwakku said: “This is clearly an accountability and integrity issue and violation of the Constitution of Sri Lanka and also this act contravenes the law of a member in the Commonwealth.” USD 2.5 mn paid to a third party was meant to be an instalment of a loan taken from Australia. Suriyapperuma neither responded to an SMS nor answered his hand phone. Geetha Kumarasinghe (UPFA/Galle District) and Diana Gamage (SJB National List) lost their seats in 2017 and 2024, respectively, over citizenship issues. Meanwhile, public interest group ‘Free Lawyers’ that exposed the theft of Treasury funds questioned the failure on the part of Dr. Harsha de Silva, Chairman of Committee on Public Finance (CoPF), to pressure President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to temporarily remove Suriyapperuma to facilitate unhindered investigations. On behalf of ‘Free Lawyers’, Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon yesterday expressed concern over the way the CoPF, under SJBer de Silva’s leadership, handled the issue at hand. Issuing an open letter, Tennakoon, urged the CoPF chief to explain his stand on a spate of vital issues which needed to be addressed without any further delay. By Shamindra Ferdinando
$2.5M Treasury diversion : Finance Ministry gives further details
The Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Harshana Suriyapperuma, says that efforts are being made to recover as much as possible of the USD 2.5 million that cyber criminals obtained from the Ministry of Finance. He made this statement while participating in a media briefing held today (23) at the auditorium of the Ministry. Harshana Suriyapperuma further said that these hackers had entered the relevant system through email. He further said that the Australian High Commissioner and the creditor had been informed regarding this incident. “In January 2026, we came to know that cyber criminals were trying to enter the External Resources Department’s system. When such information was reported, we coordinated with the relevant foreign countries and ensured that no harm was caused to the country that was to receive the payment. That issue was resolved. We felt the need to prepare the necessary procedures to review past payments, because even before January, similar incidents had occurred. Accordingly, it took some time. During that period, it was revealed that the hackers’ activities had also affected a past payment in January,” he said. Harshana Suriyapperuma noted that it was confirmed that the cyber criminals had accessed emails and defrauded nearly USD 2.5 million from the Ministry of Finance. “Even though Sri Lanka had made the due payments, the cyber criminals had intervened and diverted it to other bank accounts, instead of the intended recipient,” he said. He added that following these complaints were filed with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on the incident. The Secretary of the Ministry of Finance further said that a committee has been appointed, comprising high-ranking officials of the Finance Ministry and two Deputy Secretaries of the Treasury, to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the matter. He added that actions, including disciplinary action against officers, have been taken based on the reports of the committee obtained thus far. (Newswire) The post $2.5M Treasury diversion : Finance Ministry gives further details appeared first on Newswire.
Hackers steal $2.5m from Lankan finance ministry - The Times of India
South Asia News: Cyber criminals hacked into the Sri Lankan finance ministry's computer system and siphoned off $2.5 million, the government said Thursday, the most am.
Interpol assistance to be sought in $2.5 million Treasury heist
Dr. Suriyapperuma told journalists on Thursday that the ministry withheld details of the incident occurred between December 2025 and January 31, 2026 to avoid "disrupting current probes" by the CID Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and international agencies while they tried to trace the money in Australia.
