Colombo, Apr 30 (PTI) A senior Sri Lankan official, suspended in connection with the loss of USD 2.5 million due to hacking of the Finance Ministry account, was found dead in Kuliyapitiya, police said on Thursday.
The unnamed official, posted as an Assistant Director at the External Resources Department (ERD) of the Ministry of Finance, was one of the six officials suspended pending an investigation into the cyber fraud.
Police suspect that the official may have committed suicide in his house at Kuliyapitiya in the northwest region.
Last week, the secretary to the Treasury confirmed that USD 2.5 million from the Treasury account meant for foreign debt repayment to Australia was hacked in January. This was a part payment of the USD 22.9 million debt settlement.
Meanwhile, Secretary to the Treasury Harshana Suriyapperuma appeared before the Parliament’s Committee on Public Finance (COPF) in connection with the case.
The government has launched an investigation into the alleged hacking of the Ministry of Finance payment system.
On Saturday, the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) slammed the government over the cyber scam.
Harsha de Silva, the SJB legislator who heads the COPF, said that it was a serious lapse on the part of the Finance Ministry. PTI CORR ZH ZH
