More irregularities in the Suraksha Insurance scheme revealed

COLOMBO (News 1st): The Deputy General Manager of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Thanuja Hingurage was summoned before the Presidential Commission today (June 14). She testified on allegations of financial irregularities in the Suraksha Insurance scheme. The first phase of the Suraksha insurance scheme was conducted by the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and was reinsured through the brokerage company J.B. Boda Insurance Services. According to the agreement the brokerage company paid a commission to Sri Lanka Insurance and this commission was used to pay off the premiums for reinsurance. Testifying before the commission the Deputy General Manager of Sri Lanka Insurance Thanuja Hingurage said that the first payment of 10% of the reinsurance premium was made while the remaining 90% was paid off in three instalments. The vouchers of these payments were presented to the presidential commission today (June 14). According to the first voucher, the premium was Rs. 637 million and the deducted commission was Rs. 105 million. However although the deputy general manager said that a similar commission was deducted from the next two successive payments, the vouchers that were presented did not indicate this deduction clearly. The representatives of the presidential commission pointed out that what happened to this sum of money is ambiguous. The Chairman of the commission Upali Abeyaratne questioned the witness as to why the transactions were not recorded clearly if they were done transparently. She said that further clarifications on the matter can be made by the financial unit. Thereby the presidential commission ordered for the Chief of the Financial Unit of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Malini Tennakoon to be summoned before the commission. It was also revealed before the commission that a proper mechanism was not followed when gathering information on the students eligible for the insurance scheme. When the State Counsellor questioned the witness as to if the government suffered a loss through this programme, she accepted that there was a loss caused by the loss of ownership.