Minister Samantha Vidyarathna appeared before the Bribery Commission to provide a statement concerning alleged financial frauds connected to the Sri Lanka Tea Board during the period from 2015 to 2024.
In his statement, the Minister revealed that ministers of the former Good Governance Government had allocated a total of Rs. 1,765 million to a specific advertising agency, with the intention of promoting Ceylon tea globally. However, Minister Vidyarathna asserted that no such advertisements were broadcast on any international channel, raising serious concerns about the actual use of the allocated funds.
The Minister further disclosed that USD 100,000 had been spent on developing a website for the Tea Board. Additionally, an extra USD 600,000 had been used to translate the website content into six languages—at a cost of USD 100,000 per language.
