The Parliamentary COPE has revealed that the Attorney General has recommended that the culprits in the case of paying 11 million rupees out of 29 million rupees for the renovation of the Kataragama tourist resort be punished.
Renovation of the Kataragama Resort a few years ago cost Rs.29 million. However, due to the committee’s focus on the audit that 11 million had been paid for work that had not been done, a re-appointed expert committee had valued the 11 million at Rs.4.8 million.
It has been revealed that a committee appointed through the Ministry of Public Administration has conducted an investigation into the incident and recommended that the Attorney General punish the culprits but no action has been taken so far.
These facts were revealed at a recent meeting of the COPE Committee chaired by Prof. Charitha Herath to examine the Auditor General’s Reports for the years 2018 and 2019 and the current performance of the Tourism Development Authority.
The Auditor General also revealed that only a warning letter had been issued to the officer involved in the incident and the committee had expressed its displeasure over this.
The COPE chairman pointed out that this was not a criticism of the existing management but a responsibility of government agencies to change this long-standing system and take appropriate action on audit observations and recommendations.