A teacher of the Embilipitiya National School was taken into custody by the Embilipitiya Special Crime Investigation Unit on suspicion, for forging letters of appointment of teachers.

The suspect had been transferred early this year from a National School in the Matara District to the Embilipitiya National School by the Director of Education (National Schools).

Inquiries revealed that he forged the signatures of the former Secretary to the Provincial Ministry of Education and appointed two women as teachers. The police said the suspect had obtained Rs.160,000 from each of them. One of the women had been a labourer of a school in the Southern Province before she was appointed as a teacher. The woman Sriyani Mendis Mallikarachchi was produced in court and remanded earlier. Another woman who was attached to the Welipotayaya Vidyalaya in the Embilipitiya Education Zone has fled from the area after the police initiated inquiries.

The police said the main suspect had forged the signature of the former Secretary to the Ministry of Education of the Sabaragamuwa Province, Herath P. Kularatne and made the two appointments.

The irregularity came to light when the Embilipitiya Zonal Director of Education called for the personal files of the two teachers from the Ministry of Education of the Southern Province. The police said the 46-year-old main suspect who forged the appointment letters was a resident of Deiyandara in the Matara District. 

Meanwhile a senior official of the Embilipitiya Zonal Education Office said they had initiated action to check the personal files of the teachers who had been transferred from other areas. (Ajithlal Shantha Udaya)