AG’s Dept. probes diplomatic mission costs

By Skandha Gunasekara

The Auditor General’s (AG) Department is carrying out evaluations of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions to ascertain expenditures of embassies and their services, as part of its efforts to assess each Government sector. 

AG Gamini Wijesinghe, addressing a media workshop on the functions of the Committee on Public Accounts yesterday, said that his department would be sending officials to all Sri Lankan embassies to assess undertakings. “We are currently in the process of evaluating our diplomatic service. We will be sending officials to the various embassies for this purpose. There are no records or statistics available from these embassies regarding their activities and what their expenditures are.”

He remarked that Sri Lanka’s diplomatic service was currently failing. “There’s wide belief that our diplomatic service is inactive. What is the purpose of our diplomatic service? It is expected to uplift the image of our country, increase tourism from each country we have diplomatic ties with, and carry out trade promotions. 

Has our diplomatic service achieved these objectives?”

He said that in 2017, Rs. 8 billion had been spent on renovating Sri Lankan embassies around the world.

“This is a massive amount of money. What has the country gained from spending this much to renovate embassies? There is no one to answer this question.”

He went on to note that there were no records from the diplomatic service on their expenditure for the past several years.