The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has uncovered details of the management and structural irregularities of the Sri Lanka Export Credit Insurance Corporation (SLECIC) at a time where the government has already earmarked the disbanding of the institution bringing its functions under an investment promotion agency (authority) finance ministry sources said.
At a meeting convened under the chairmanship of Prof. Ranjith Bandara, the COPE examined the Auditor General’s reports for the years of 2019 and 2020, as well as the current performance of SLECIC, only to express its absolute displeasure about the way the institution has been functioning.
Special committee appointed by President Ranil Wickremasinghe has already made a recommendation to set up this new agency by bringing the Board of Investment (BOI), the Export Development Board (EDB) and the Sri Lanka Export Credit Insurance Corporation (SLECIC) together onto one platform.
National Enterprise Development Authority (NEDA) and other entities that support exports and investments will also come under the purview of the new agency.
The budget 2023 has allocated Rs 100 million to implement the investment and export sector reforms expeditiously.
COPE chairman, shedding light on the failure of the SLECIC to table the Annual Reports, expressed displeasure over the lack of assistance provided to the Auditor General as a responsible government institution.
The committee also questions the General Manager of SLECIC as to why a corporate plan was not prepared for more than a decade and on what basis the administration process of the institution was carried out without a corporate plan.
The COPE members went on to instruct the SLECIC officials to take immediate measures to present a corporate plan at the earliest possible.
Further, the COPE members also inquired as to why 05 main positions of the director board including finance remain vacant.
While strongly condemning the actions of the General Manager in steering the institution, the COPE members emphasized that the neglect and inaction of respective officials have resulted in the failure of reaching the set objectives of the institution as per the Act.
In this regard, the COPE chairman recommended that the board vacancies be filled with immediate effect to ensure stability and proper institutional mechanism.
Whilst expressing disappointment regarding the indolent nature of the Ministry of Finance in looking into the ongoing irregularities of the SLECIC, the COPE chairman recommended that an investigation should be probed through the CID regarding the loss of institutional information of the institution and recommended that the Chairman of the Corporation take immediate action regarding the said matter.
Furthermore, recommendations were also made to the Finance Ministry to appoint an independent committee consisting of the Internal Auditor affiliated to the Ministry and to submit a report regarding the financial irregularities of the Corporation within 3 weeks.
Recommendations were also given to the Ministry of Finance to conduct a separate investigation regarding the actions of the General Manager of the institution and report to the committee before April 18
