Over Rs. 30 Bn owed by bond defaulting university lecturers, COPE reveals
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Lankadeepa, Newswire, Newsfirst and Hiru News report that the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) disclosed that lecturers throughout Sri Lanka’s university system owe the state close to Rs. 30 billion after failing to meet study agreements and bond terms. Newswire and Newsfirst say MP Nishantha Samaraweera chaired the committee meeting.
Newswire reports that the disclosure came during a November 4 meeting reviewing Eastern University of Sri Lanka’s performance and audit reports for 2023 and 2024. Newswire says COPE instructed officials to design a systematic recovery process, including for lecturers who had travelled overseas.
Newswire reports that COPE raised financial and administrative concerns at Eastern University. The university received almost Rs. 3 billion a year from the government, but, according to Newswire, its Audit and Management Committee had no Treasury representative. Newswire also reports concerns over a senior assistant internal auditor who dealt with financial matters while holding the chief internal auditor role.
Newswire says the meeting considered absent personnel records, conflicting documents relating to academic qualifications and promotions, and study leave granted improperly. Newswire also reports that a lecturer resigned to stand in an election and later returned, while an overpayment of Rs. 3,633,900 remained unrecovered. The committee raised procurement concerns about medical equipment, according to Newswire.
Newswire reports that 38 support employees avoided the fingerprint attendance system and took between five and 83.5 excess leave days; salaries totalling Rs. 99,181,457 had not been recovered. Newswire says COPE rejected explanations linking missing records to the civil war, tsunami and floods. It directed the ministry secretary to speed up changes to the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978 to give the University Grants Commission power to address irregularities by university councils, and required transparent biometric attendance arrangements for all staff.
Written automatically by AI from the outlets’ own reports, and not reviewed by an editor. It can be wrong — the original report is the authority.