31 March 2021 12:00 am Views - 168
By Ajith Siriwardana
The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has revealed that a former senior official of the Postgraduate Institute of Science (PGIS) affiliated to the University of Peradeniya had fraudulently obtained Rs. 50 million from fixed deposits maintained by the PGIS of the university.
The Post Graduate Institute affiliated to the University of Peradeniya had closed 14 fixed deposits which were under the Peradeniya Branch of People’s Bank, during the period from 01 January 2009 to 31 December 2016 and obtained a sum of Rs. 93 million. Out of this amount, only Rs. 37 million (Rs. 37,948,865) has been invested in new fixed deposits and Rs. 50 million (Rs. 50,338,160) has been fraudulently obtained personally by the Senior Assistant Bursar of the PGIS of the University of Peradeniya.
The officer involved in the financial fraud has been interdicted and is being investigated by the CID.
It was further revealed at the COPE meeting that the Council of the University of Peradeniya is conducting a disciplinary inquiry into the fraudsters and in addition, the Auditor General’s Department is imposing surcharges.
The COPE met under the chairmanship of Prof. Charitha Herath to review the Auditor General’s report for the years 2018 and 2019 and the current performance of the Postgraduate Institute affiliated to the University of Peradeniya.