Rajapaksa’s UN visit: Ex-Lankan diplomat faces FCID probe

Aonetime top official of the Sri Lanka Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York is to be questioned by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) over alleged financial irregularities.

This probe concerns an advance of more than US$ 50,000 drawn from the mission for expenses related to a visit by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and entourage to attend the UN General Assembly.

One such advance had been settled after five months with “irrelevant and incomplete documentation,” an audit inquiry revealed. This amount, it has come to light, has been deposited by the mission into his personal account after funds were received from the Foreign Ministry in Colombo. After the bank in question had said it needed three to four days to encash such an amount the mission had issued two separate cheques of US$ 10,000 each.

Just three days before this transaction, the top official concerned had also accepted US$ 20,000 from the mission funds.

A Foreign Ministry audit team, which conducted an examination of the accounts, had later recommended that limits be placed on ad hoc advance payments.

The audit team also examined different items of expenditure. One such instance was the payment of US$ 39,600 for the use of vehicles (for hours ranging from 16 to 24) during a visit to Texas by the then President Rajapaksa.

Among other expenses the official is said to have paid for are US$ 950 for meals for drivers, “expenses” in Washington DC for US$ 2,000 and tips for waiters US$ 350.