A formal appeal submitted to the Speaker of Parliament on 22 April 2026 has intensified scrutiny over an alleged cyber-related financial breach involving the Sri Lankan Treasury, with claims that a $2.5 million payment intended for foreign debt servicing may have been diverted to a hacker or unauthorized third party. The letter, issued by the Free Lawyers Organization and signed by Attorney-at-Law Maithri Gunaratne, calls for a comprehensive parliamentary investigation into the incident, citing serious questions of institutional oversight, financial control mechanisms, and accountability within the country’s public debt management system.
According to the contents of the letter addressed to the Speaker of Parliament at Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the Government of Sri Lanka was required to settle a foreign loan obligation amounting to $22.9 million by the end of September 2025. Within this broader obligation, a portion of $2.5 million is alleged to have been processed by the Treasury between December 2005 and January 31, 2026, but was reportedly not received by the intended creditor country. Instead, the payment is suspected to have been redirected to a fraudulent account or a cyber attacker’s channel, raising concerns of a sophisticated financial cyber intrusion targeting state systems.
The letter further notes that a Technical Investigation Committee was appointed around 24 March 2026 to examine the incident. In connection with the suspected breach, two Deputy Directors, two Directors, and the Head of the Computer Division at the Treasury have already been suspended. These administrative actions indicate that internal accountability measures have begun, although the scale and sensitivity of the allegation have prompted demands for a broader and fully independent inquiry beyond internal Treasury oversight.
The Free Lawyers Organization highlights systemic concerns regarding Sri Lanka’s external debt repayment framework. It notes that until recently, foreign debt servicing responsibilities were handled by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, but were later transferred under a revised financial structure to the Department of External Resources and the Public Debt Management Office. These institutions, operating under the Ministry of Finance, are responsible for documentation, authorization, and execution of sovereign debt payments. The letter argues that given the magnitude and sensitivity of such transactions, approval chains necessarily involve multiple senior officials, including the Deputy Treasury Secretary and the Treasury Secretary, raising critical questions about how a diversion of this scale could occur without broader detection or intervention.
The submission emphasizes that ultimate responsibility for public finance lies with Parliament, and therefore urges the establishment of a parliamentary-led investigative mechanism independent of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury administration. It argues that because the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance also functions as the Secretary to the Treasury, any internal inquiry risks structural conflict of interest. As a result, the organization insists that investigative teams be appointed from outside the financial administration to ensure transparency, neutrality, and public confidence in the findings.
Attorney-at-Law Maithri Gunaratne, writing in his capacity as Chairman of the Free Lawyers Organization, states that the ongoing investigation led by an Additional Secretary to the Treasury may not be sufficient to establish accountability across the entire administrative and technical chain. The letter further highlights that those overseeing debt repayment operations are also operationally linked to the current investigative process, raising concerns about the independence and credibility of the inquiry.
Adding further weight to the controversy, the “Dinana Dikuna (Winning South)” collective has issued a separate statement calling for a full audit of the alleged financial irregularity. The statement, released by leadership board member Attorney-at-Law Shiral Lakthilaka, claims that the Treasury was scheduled to make installment and interest payments on a bilateral loan agreement, but that funds were allegedly diverted through a fraudulent account number reportedly supplied through cyber intrusion activity.
The group asserts that the payment in question was processed approximately four months prior to public disclosure of the issue. It further claims that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka had previously alerted the Treasury regarding concerns related to the bank account used in the transaction before the payment was executed. This raises additional questions about whether early warning signals were adequately considered or whether procedural safeguards failed to prevent the alleged diversion.
The statement also underscores that responsibility for external debt management rests with the Department of External Resources and the Public Debt Management Office, which operate under the direct supervision of the Minister of Finance and the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance. On this basis, “Dinana Dikuna (Winning South)” argues that accountability cannot be limited to lower-level officials and must extend to senior decision-making authorities who authorize and oversee such large-scale international financial transfers.
Strong criticism is also directed at the structure of the current investigation, which is led by a committee composed of Additional Treasury Secretaries. The statement describes this arrangement as inadequate and lacking independence, suggesting it is comparable to an internal institution investigating itself. It emphasizes that the approval process for such large foreign payments requires authorization at the highest levels of Treasury and Ministry of Finance leadership, meaning responsibility cannot be isolated to technical or mid-level administrative officers.
Furthermore, “Dinana Dikuna (Winning South)” calls for broader institutional oversight, recommending that the National Audit Commission conduct a full forensic audit of the transaction. It also urges the involvement of independent investigative teams outside the Ministry of Finance, as well as parliamentary oversight mechanisms such as the Committee on Public Enterprises. The group additionally calls for the Central Bank to launch a parallel inquiry and for the Public Debt Management Office to submit a comprehensive report to Parliament detailing the procedural timeline and authorization chain involved in the disputed payment.
According to the statement, the alleged misdirection of funds—estimated at over 800 million rupees in equivalent value through Treasury-linked systems—raises serious concerns about the security of government financial infrastructure. It warns that without independent oversight and transparent reporting, public confidence in state financial systems could be significantly undermined.
