By: Staff Writer September 29, Colombo (LNW): Following the discovery of abandoned luxury vehicles used by officials from the previous government at the Presidential Secretariat and an inquiry by the Auditor General, the current government has shifted its focus towards ensuring that state-owned vehicles are properly marked. The goal is to prevent the misuse of government vehicles by mandating that each vehicle display both the state emblem and the name of the respective institution or ministry. Despite the issuance of a circular containing these instructions, it has been revealed that compliance with these guidelines has been lax.
The new administration has stressed the importance of fully enforcing the original guidelines. The circular explicitly requires that, in addition to the state emblem, the name of the ministry or institution must be displayed on each vehicle. The National Audit Office has further uncovered that thousands of state-owned vehicles have gone missing or are misplaced.
Auditor General W.P.C.
Wickramaratne announced that a comprehensive report on these missing vehicles is in the works. In a related incident, several vehicles that were previously used by former ministry secretaries and presidential advisors were recently found abandoned at Galle Face Grounds. Reports indicate that a significant number of vehicles from state institutions, such as the Health, Education, Postal, and Irrigation departments, as well as the Presidential Secretariat, have disappear.