by Piyasena Dissanayake

The UNP yesterday demanded that the government make a public statement on a missing sum of Rs 47,000 million received by Sri Lanka as tsunami aid, as alleged by the Transparency International organisation.

UNP Kandy District MP Lakshman Kiriella yesterday, addressing a press conference at the Opposition Leader’s Office in Colombo, said that a recent survey conducted by the international non government organisation Transparency International had revealed that Sri Lanka had received Rs 110,000 million and of that Rs 47,000 million had gone unaccounted for.

The then Minister of Finance was President Mahinda Rajapaksa and he should tell the nation what had happened to those missing funds, Kiriella said.

He said his party had highlighted that issue three years back but the Government had used various tactics to silence the campaign demanding to know how tsunami aid funds had been utilised.

Friendly nations across the world had come forward in the aftermath of the tsunami to assist Sri Lanka and expressed their readiness to extend financial assistance of to the tune of Rs. 210,000 million but thanks to mismanagement of the Sri Lankan government the actual amount received by the country had been reduced to Rs 110,000 million, Kiriella said. .

Kiriella said that his party would form a new government after January 26, conduct a full scale investigation into the misappropriation of tsunami aid and take punitive action against those involved in corruption.