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COPF raises privilege issue over Immigration Dept, Public Security Ministry no-show
View(s):By Sandun Jayawardana
A privilege issue has been raised over the failure by officials of the Public Security Ministry and the Immigration and Emigration Department to appear before Parliament’s Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on Tuesday (14) for the examination into the tripartite visa outsourcing contract.
COPF held its first examination into the contract regarding the outsourcing of visa processing to GBS Technology Services, IVS Global-FZCO and VFS VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd on May 9. The examination could not be finished on the first day and both sides had proposed dates for the next meeting. The date that was finally agreed on, May 14, was proposed by the Ministry Secretary, COPF Chairman Dr Harsha De Silva told the Sunday Times. “We wanted to meet earlier than that, but the Secretary wanted more time and so we agreed on the date and time based on his request,” he explained.
The day before the meeting, a letter had been sent to the Parliament Secretariat listing the names and designations of the officials who were to appear before the Committee. However, at about 6.30 pm, once Parliamentary proceedings had ended, a fax had been sent to the Secretariat stating the officials could not appear the following day as they needed another week to look for documents related to the matter. This was on the grounds that their physical location had been moved in 2016. Dr De Silva said he had replied to a WhatsApp message sent in the evening asking for a postponement stating it could not be done now since a date had been agreed upon. “They did not respond to the message and did not show up for the meeting.”
Dr De Silva said he believed this was the first time in Parliament’s recent history that public officials had failed to show up at a scheduled hearing of a Parliament Committee. “This is completely unacceptable and is extraordinary,” he added.
He said he had nothing personal against the officials involved but that what happened was complete disrespect of Parliament. “Parliament has constitutional authority. These people have to come when they are called. You cannot simply not turn up.” He said there were legal ramifications for not showing up for such an examination.
Meanwhile, officials from SLT-Mobitel, which had already part upgraded the existing Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) system at the request of the Immigration Department before the tripartite agreement, explained “their side of the story” to COPF for more than three hours on Tuesday, Dr De Silva said.
The COPF Chair said the issue is a matter of national importance and stressed that he is “not playing politics.” He said his objective is to ensure that the problem is resolved in a way that results in the least damage to Sri Lanka’s brand.
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