An audit report reveals that many items worth several crores in the possession of the media section of the Presidential Palace and the Presidential Secretariat have gone missing during 2018–20.
According to the information received from the storekeeper of the Presidential Palace, as mentioned in the audit, 24 items belonging to the 12 inventory items in the Presidential Palace were taken to the Presidential Residence located at Mahagamasekara Mawatha, but there is no record of them in the relevant books.
According to a notification made by the President’s Senior Assistant Secretary on November 18, 2019, during an investigation by the storekeeper of the Presidential Palace, 61 items belonging to 35 inventory items in the new building could not be found and no investigation has been conducted in this regard until March 2022.
According to this audit report, the media section of the Presidential Secretariat has been maintained under four units until 2019. But the media section was started in November 2019 under the name of the new media section and it has not maintained a proper record of the goods received.
According to a report sent by the engineers to the President’s Secretary regarding the goods of the media department, it is also stated in the audit report that many goods worth nearly three and a half crore rupees (3,41,89,688) were missing.
According to the report, 1,77,86,325 worth laptops and 78 Mac Book Air type computers received by the media department between 2015 and January 2020 and 48 out of 52 desktop computers worth 1,03,80,423 were issued to the media department officials. 28 out of 45 mobile phones and iPads worth Rs 34,70,742 are included.
It is stated in the report that out of the 45 mobile phones and iPads given to the officials of the media department, nine of the 14 mobile phones and three or two iPads were disabled.
In addition, the report also states that 12 items belonging to the Kataratama Presidential House and two television sets were missing from the Anuradhapura Presidential House.
It is also stated in the report that no investigation has been conducted on any of these products by March 25, 2022, and no reports have been submitted to the audit.
(Curtesy -Lankadeepa)
