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Mission heads to carry responsibility for DPL bags
View(s):Heads of Sri Lanka diplomatic missions overseas — Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Permanent Representatives — will be held personally responsible for the secure despatch of DPL bags from their stations to Colombo.This is the highlight of special instructions sent out to them by External Affairs Ministry Secretary Kshenuka Seneviratne.
The move follows the detection of irregularities in the use of DPL bags. It was found that jewellery belonging to a deceased worker in South Korea has been despatched in a DPL bag to Colombo. The gold had been sold to a jewellery shop in the Pettah after the items were surreptitiously removed.
On August 3, the Sunday Times revealed how the Director General of the EAM’s Consular Section and nine other officials, including the Director were suspended. They have now been reinstated though action has been taken against the miscreant in Colombo and two employees at the Sri Lanka embassy in Seoul. New instructions sent out by Secretary Seneviratne note that “the diplomatic bag, which is the normal means of official communication between this Ministry and Sri Lanka Missions/Posts abroad, enjoying absolute immunity abroad under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 should be used only for:
(a) Despatch of all communications. The reference number and date of all such communications must be stated in the accompanying schedule.
(b) Despatch of covers from members of the home-based staff of Missions, containing personal letters and printed material only. The Ministry/Head of Mission/Post reserve the right to open and inspect any such closed cover before it is scheduled for despatch.”
The directive also says the Head of Mission/Post is required to ensure that the opening and closing of the Diplomatic Bag are done under the personal supervision of a diplomatic officer. When dispatch of valuable items/personal belongings of deceased Sri Lankan nationals are received, the directive says, Missions/Posts are advised to facilitate the sending of such items to Sri Lanka through insured courier/mail services.