Opposition lawmakers are intensifying calls for the public release of the forensic audit into Sri Lanka’s controversial e-visa contracts, even as a new “special audit” is poised to reach the Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance (COPF) within days.
Their renewed demand came in the wake of a Supreme Court judgment on Tuesday, which sentenced former Controller General of Immigration and Emigration Harsha Ilukpitiya to two years’ imprisonment for contempt of court. The court found he had failed to comply with an earlier order to reinstate the old visa system pending final adjudication of petitions challenging the new e-visa scheme.
Despite more than 15 months having passed since the petitions were filed, opposition critics assert the government has yet to submit the forensic audit to the Supreme Court as required.
The lawsuits were lodged by Opposition politicians Patali Champika Ranawaka, M.A. Sumanthiran, and Rauff Hakeem, all of whom served on the COPF at the time the e-visa deal was scrutinised. Ranawaka has emphasised that while the contempt case was concluded on September 23, 2025, the substantive challenge to the e-visa system is still pending. The next hearing is slated for November 23.
At the heart of the dispute lies the stalled forensic audit, the principal recommendation of a 660-page COPF report which Parliament approved in July of last year, authorising the Auditor General to carry out a full review of the procurement process.
The petitioners themselves have presented preliminary loss calculations to the court. They estimate that Sri Lanka lost Rs 3.71 billion between the introduction of the new system (April 17, 2024) and the issuance of an interim court order, owing to the shift from a US$1 visa-processing charge to one exceeding US$25.
An additional Rs 4 billion, they claim, was lost because the interim order was not enforced and the old system was not reinstated. Support for these figures comes from data showing that the contracted firms (GBS, IVS, and VFS) earned over US$12.6 million (around Rs 3.78 billion) between April and August 2024.
Ranawaka insists that only a forensic audit by the Auditor General can establish an official, court-accepted figure for losses. Without it, he argues, their estimates carry only persuasive weight. “If the audit officially confirms fraud and quantifies the loss, any citizen may file complaints with the police or the Bribery Commission,” he said. He has further alleged that the audit report is being deliberately withheld to obstruct criminal proceedings.
In recent days, however, the government has moved to deflect mounting pressure by announcing a “special audit”distinct from a full forensic auditas the Auditor General reportedly declined to conduct full forensic work. According to Minister of Public Security Ananda Wijepala, this special audit has already been sent to the Immigration Department for review and is expected to be forwarded to the COPF within a week.
With mounting public scrutiny and political pressure, the COPF is expected to notify Parliament of next steps once it receives the audit report.
Meanwhile, in parliament, MP Rauff Hakeem has also called for the forensic report’s formal submission to parliament, pointing to a COPF directive for the Auditor General’s involvement. Hakeem has accused the government of failing to await the forensic audit and said losses could amount to as much as US$3.4 billion.
In sum, opposition parties now face a pivotal moment. They must decide whether to accept the special audit as a compromise or to press ahead in court for the original forensic audit, pushing to unmask the full extent of alleged malfeasance in Sri Lanka’s visa contract process.
