Why no websites for transparency for billions of donor funds?

By Amrit Muttukumaru

MA Econ. (Madras); MBM (Asian Inst. of Mgmt.)

Public Interest Activist

Colombo, Dec. 29 (Daily Mirror) - Cyclone Ditwah has left in its trail an unprecedented humanitarian and economic crisis involving all 25 districts. Sri Lanka will be hard pressed to get out of this crisis unless leaders from all sections of the polity demonstrate mature leadership and superior management skills devoid of corruption and partisan politics. Given our collective track record, it will be a miracle for this to come to pass.

Ditwah has impacted more than two million of our fellow citizens in numerous ways. More than 600 lives have been lost, around 200 missing and more than 100,000 said to be living in shelters.

The World Bank while estimating direct physical damage to critical infrastructure to be USD 4.1 Billion goes on to state “recovery and reconstruction needs are expected to significantly exceed these figures.”

The TOTAL loss to the economy is estimated to be in the region of USD 6-7 Billion.

Prasanna Gunasena, Deputy Minister of Transport is reported to have told Parliament - “only one third of Sri Lanka’s railway system is operable”

Crucial Need for Websites

It is now a month since Cyclone Ditwah struck Sri Lanka and donor funds amounting to tens of millions in local and foreign currencies have begun to pour into the ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund set up under the Presidential Secretariat without parliamentary oversight.

The Fund is administered as per the President’s Media Division by a private sector heavy “Management Committee” to “ensure full transparency in all financial operations of the Fund, including financial management and auditing.”

The committee chaired by Dr. Anil Jayantha Fernando, Deputy Minister of Finance also includes Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Treasury. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is also Finance Minister.

Does not “full transparency” expected by President AKD demand the unwavering integrity of chartered accountants/auditors who are the first and last line of defense against any form of financial corruption in any private sector or public sector institution?

In this connection, does not the appointment of Duminda Hulangamuwa - Managing Partner of Ernst & Young as Senior Economic Adviser to President AKD and member of the “Management Committee” constitute an obvious ‘conflict of interest’ in relation to clients/potential clients of EY who could benefit from ‘inside’ information? What is more concerning is that CA Sri Lanka which regulates the audit/chartered accountancy profession has not raised a red flag!

The President of CA Sri Lanka is an ex-officio commissioner of the SEC which is supposed to regulate the private sector.

It is now a month after Cyclone Ditwah. At the very least should not the “Management Committee” of the Fund have flagged its intention to establish appropriate websites and sought proposals from the public to give them a stake in how Billions of donor funds is spent? This is crucial to give confidence to donors on the integrity and competence of those administering and implementing the rebuilding process.

Keeping in mind that the entire rebuilding process is estimated to have a price tag of USD 6-7 Billions and what has so far flowed in is comparatively a pittance, is it not crucial that potential multilateral/bilateral and individual donors should have the utmost confidence on the integrity and professionalism/competence of the entire rebuilding process?

Websites are also necessary to dispel misconceptions peddled by vested interests both from the government and the opposition.

In the absence of credible websites in the public domain, it is amusing to witness Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance/Treasury and member of the “Management Committee” ponderously rattling off on TV sums of monies received from donors.

An OUTLINE for the proposed websites is given below:

1. ‘Master’ website must regularly (monthly) give the ‘Executive Summary’ for the ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund. Initially there must be a brief note on the credentials of ALL members of the ‘Management Committee’ from the Private & Public sectors. All members – Private & Public sector must sign FULL DISCLOSURE of any ‘conflict of interest’ in areas in which their companies or they themselves may have an interest. The ‘Master’ website must have LINKS to the ‘Subsidiary’ websites given below.
2. ‘Subsidiary’ websites must be established for specific subjects which include - Highways & Bridges, Railways & Bridges, Power Supply, Water Supply, Hospitals & Healthcare, Agriculture, Education, Livelihoods, Landslide Management, Housing for Displaced Persons. This must be on the basis of inter alia Receipts / Expenditure / Tender Procedure / Audits.

Integrity of ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund

The total loss from Cyclone Ditwah has been estimated at USD 6 to 7 Billion. The comparative figure for the 2004 Tsunami was in the region of USD 2 Billion.

The majority of those in the “Management Committee” to steer the ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund are from the private sector.

Even Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance/Treasury and member of the “Management Committee” as per the ‘Presidential Secretariat’ has “held several key positions in leading private sector companies, including Chief Executive Officer roles”.

A cogent question is how those with essentially a 'commercial' mindset with some having a poor record in corporate governance could suddenly metamorphose into a socially responsible force to 'rebuild’ the nation?

The track record of some leaders from the private sector who were members of ‘TAFREN’ (‘Task Force for Rebuilding the Nation’) in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami, National Council for Economic Development (NCED) and Strategic Enterprises Management Agency (SEMA) is not much to write home about. If it was otherwise, there would have been no need for Sri Lanka to declare itself bankrupt in April 2022.

The response to the Tsunami was mired in controversy with credible allegations of corruption benefitting some leading NGOs.

The copybook of ‘TAFREN’ will forever be sullied by its failure to prevent the controversy surrounding the "Helping Hambantota" fund linked to then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Some of the private sector entities in the Cyclone Ditwah “Management Committee” have credible allegations of ‘conflict of interest’, wrongdoing in the ‘Panama Papers’, bringing highly toxic material to the country and benefitting from questionable privatization of state assets. This is disregarded by the government.

IMF

It is strange that IMF and other multilateral agencies preaching corruption free good governance are not insisting on publicly available websites.

It is imprudent for the government and top bureaucrats in the Finance Ministry to be in awe of the career-oriented bureaucrats in the IMF. It is salutary to keep in mind:

1. IMF is widely faulted for not anticipating the 1997 East Asia financial crisis and for its response through austerity measures which worsened the crisis.
2. IMF tasked with maintaining global economic and financial stability failed to anticipate events leading to the 2008 global financial crisis.

Conclusion

The ‘free pass’ given to the private sector which is the main driver of government corruption by successive governments bodes ill for the country.

While the government sent a five-member CID team to the UK to probe the alleged misuse of Rs. 16.6 million of public funds by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, it is refusing to investigate what is apparently an ‘open and shut’ case of foreign exchange fraud spanning several decades involving a senior director of a large publicly owned consumer retail company whose entire family have dual citizenship in Australia.

President AKD appointed SEC Chairman, Dr. Hareendra Dissabandara and CBSL Governor, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe are steering clear of this case.

Those faulting the government for not having in place a permanent Auditor General after the retirement of Chulantha Wickramaratne in April 2025 must be commended. However, it is foolhardy to assume that everything will be hunky-doryonce a permanent AG is in place.

Chulantha Wickramaratne who was soon after retirement in April 2025 appointed a ‘Director’ of the aforesaid publicly owned consumer retail company seems to have decided to ride this crisis out.

The response to the 2004 Tsunami through the private sector driven ‘TAFREN’ also led to debt moratoriums, concessional loans and possibly even write-offs benefitting the private sector.

This is one of the reasons why the proposed websites must have FULL DISCLOSURE of any ‘conflict of interest’ of ALL those in the ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund.

It is reckless for the government to attempt to have a ‘Global Donor Conference’ in the absence of professionally crafted publicly available websites.