Bandula accused of computer corruption

By Ashwin Hemmathagama Our Lobby Correspondent

Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam and his predecessor Bandula Gunawardane clashed yesterday in Parliament over the purchase of computers for school computer labs. 

Kariyawasam alleged that serious fraud had been committed when the computers were purchased during the rule of the Rajapaksa administration. 

Minister Kariyawasama said that the computers purchased to support the 1,000 schools program were overpriced. 

“The average market price of a similar computer is between Rs. 40,000 and Rs. 50,000 but each of these computers were bought for prices of Rs. 110,000 upwards. On top of this, the then-Government failed to recruit the necessary teachers to teach computing as a subject in the school curriculum,” he said.

However, Gunawardena disagreed with Minister Kariyawasam’s allegations, countering: “A financial audit is required if such a purchase took place. But nothing illegal happened and this is merely an attempt to tarnish my image. The accountants and respective officers in the committees are responsible if such an incident occurred,” he said.