Ravi urges CoPF to summon CBSL, banks over alleged $ 1 b trade fraud

UNP MP and former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake has called on Parliament’s Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) to launch an urgent institutional inquiry into the alleged $ 1 billion foreign exchange fraud highlighted by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, urging the committee to summon senior Central Bank officials, Customs authorities and the chief compliance officers of 13 commercial banks.

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In a letter dated 29 June to CoPF Chairman Dr. Harsha de Silva, Karunanayake argued that the alleged large-scale foreign exchange losses warranted immediate parliamentary scrutiny extending beyond the businesses and individuals directly implicated in the investigation.

He contended that the inquiry should focus on whether regulatory institutions responsible for banking supervision, anti-money laundering, foreign exchange monitoring and customs oversight had failed to detect or prevent the alleged fraud.

Referring to recent disclosures by President Dissanayake and Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala in Parliament, Karunanayake said COPF could not delay or dilute its oversight responsibilities if the allegations proved to be accurate.

"The Committee on Public Finance is constitutionally mandated to exercise strict oversight over public finance and safeguard the economic interests of Sri Lanka," he wrote.

Karunanayake noted that the President had alleged that Sri Lanka had suffered losses of approximately $ 1 billion, or nearly Rs. 340 billion, since 2024 through fraudulent telegraphic transfers and advance payments for so-called "phantom imports" where no goods had entered the country.