July 7, 2006 (LBO) – A parliamentary body which oversees public finances, plans to bring a law to beef up the office of Sri Lanka’s Auditor General, a senior legislator said. Meanwhile a parliamentarian has made statements claiming to be from another report due to be tabled shortly, that 360 billion rupees have disappeared to fraudulent mismanagement and tax amnesties, from revenue collecting agencies such as Customs Inland Revenue and the Registrar of Motor Vehicles Dept. If approved, the move will require a change to the constitutions, Parliamentarian Wijedasa Rajapakse, newly elected chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises or COPE said.
He said the issue is being taken up together with another parliamentary body, the Committee on Public Accounts, which examines the accounts of government departments.
The government has appointed a five-member committee headed by Presidential advisor Dhammika Amerasinghe to examine the issue.
Presidential Advisors Prof. P W Epasinghe, Kamal Karunanayake, V K Nanayakkera and Sandagiri Wickremarachchi make up the committee.
Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundera and Deputy Treasury Secretary Sumith Abeysinghe are also r
