July 14, Colombo (LNW): MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage announced that twelve members of the Parliament Committee on Public Finance (COPF) have rejected the report presented to Parliament by Committee’s Chairman Dr. Harsha de Silva, concerning the online visa issuance for tourists.
Among those disagreeing with the report are MPs Shehan Semasinghe, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Vajira Abeywardena, Suren Raghavan, Duminda Dissanayake, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Sita Arambepola, Anupa Pasqual, Johnston Fernando, and Madhura Withanage, as mentioned by Aluthgamage.
He further explained that due to conflicting statistics received by the committee about tourist arrivals, the group had requested the Chairman to postpone the presentation of the report to Parliament.
However, Dr. Harsha de Silva disregarded this objection and submitted the report, Aluthgamage stated.
Speaking in Parliament on Friday (12), Harsha de Silva highlighted that the COPF report revealed that VFS Global was selected without an official bidding process, resulting in the Department of Immigration and Emigration missing out on competitive rates for visa issuance.
