A household inventory book from the official residence of Sri Lanka’s Speaker of Parliament, Jagath Wickramaratne, has gone missing while the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption is conducting an investigation into alleged corruption and irregularities involving the residence, according to local media reports.
The disappearance was reported to the commission on Monday by Pasan Athukorala, the manager responsible for the Speaker’s official residence, the reports said. Athukorala reportedly told investigators that the inventory book had been held by an officer attached to the Speaker’s personal staff before it went missing.
The disclosure came as Athukorala was questioned by investigators for nearly five hours over the alleged irregularities surrounding the allocation of the official residence to Wickramaratne. He appeared before the commission on Monday morning following a summons and gave a statement to its Special Investigations Division.
The commission had previously instructed Chinta Bulathsinhala, Parliament’s Deputy Director of Administration, to ensure that the manager of the Speaker’s residence was referred to the Special Investigations Division together with relevant documents. The commission also requested records concerning employees working at the official residence, as well as documents relating to electricity, water and other payments.
The investigation follows a complaint by Chaminda Kularatne, a former Deputy Secretary-General and Chief of Staff of Parliament. It is being conducted under Sri Lanka’s Anti-Corruption Act, No. 9 of 2023, according to the source.
The commission has already questioned three senior parliamentary officials, including Bulathsinhala, about facilities provided to the Speaker. It also recently recorded a statement from Kularatne, who submitted a number of documents relating to the allegations to investigators.
The disappearance of the inventory book is significant in the context of the ongoing investigation because the Anti-Corruption Act contains provisions concerning the destruction, fabrication or concealment of evidence. Under the provisions cited in the source, destroying, altering, fabricating or concealing a document, record, information or material evidence relevant to an investigation, inquiry or trial constitutes an offence.
The source states that a person convicted by a court under these provisions may face imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to Rs1 million, or both. It also states that fabricating evidence, providing false statements or supplying misleading information while concealing original evidence can constitute an offence intended to obstruct an investigation.
The source does not establish that the missing inventory book was deliberately destroyed, concealed or fabricated, and no such finding is attributed to the commission. The information currently reported concerns the disappearance of the document and the statement provided by the residence manager during the ongoing investigation.
Meanwhile, the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya has decided to submit a no-confidence motion against Speaker Wickramaratne containing 46 allegations, according to the source. The motion is expected to be presented shortly. The allegations being examined by the anti-corruption commission and those contained in the proposed motion are reported as separate developments.
