Investigations on state institutions to commence on Monday

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The Presidential Commission appointed to investigate allegations of fraud and corruption at state institutions over the past 4 years will begin hearing evidence on complaints received from Monday (March 25). Accordingly, it is stated that the investigations are to commence with the Director of the Sri Jayawardanapura Hospital who was allegedly involved in misuse and corruption. The deadline for submission of complaints, which was extended on multiple occasions ended yesterday (March 19). It was reported that 1,142 complaints were received by the commission. Forty-eight complaints were assigned to the police division of the commission for preliminary investigations. An announcement by the commission brought to light that institutions under Health Ministry and Ministry of Agriculture, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, SriLankan Airlines were involved in large scale misuses, frauds and corruption. It also noted that the high ranking officials of the Colombo Municipal Council were involved in corrupt activities on a regular basis. It was also revealed that complaints against several notable public figures of the current government such as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Malik Samarawickrama, Kabir Hashim, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Lakshman Kiriella were received by the commission. The commission was appointed by the president in order to investigate alleged frauds and corruption that occurred in government institutions between 2015 and 2018.

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