Sandun Jayawardana

Time to move beyond visa violations, though. Nineteen foreign nationals, including 12 Chinese, six Bangladeshi and three Indian nationals, were arrested by the Central Criminal Investigation Bureau during a raid in Maradana last night for allegedly staying in Sri Lanka without valid visas. The raid was carried out at a building in the Technical Junction area. The suspects are due to be produced before the Maligakanda Magistrate’s Court today. #SriLanka

Full story (it's long but comprehensive) here: sundaytimes.lk/261101/news/i…

With my colleagues @tharushineethr1 @rubatheesan @maligasj from @TimesOnlineLK Time to accept we have a problem.

“Sri Lanka is at serious risk of becoming a hub for industrial-scale cyber scams, and immediate preventative actions are needed to disrupt the criminal consolidation presently underway in the country,” a new report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) warns. sundaytimes.lk/261025/news/a…

Chinese cyber scam boss who was kidnapped and murdered in Sri Lanka’s capital in July went by three separate aliases and carried at least two passports, according to documents obtained by OCCRP and the Sunday Times. Chen Guoqing, 31, was abducted from the Colombo Port City special economic zone in the early hours of July 23 by a group of over a dozen men, one of them brandishing a pistol, according to a copy of the police investigative report into the incident. He was driven to a rural area over 70 kilometres east of Colombo and tortured to death, and his body was abandoned. @TimesOnlineLK and @OCCRP sundaytimes.lk/261025/news/o…

Authorities in Sri Lanka have failed to successfully prosecute a single transnational cyber scam case, police have said, despite more than a thousand arrests so far this year of suspected members of Asian fraud syndicates who have surged into the South Asian country. @TimesOnlineLK with @OCCRP sundaytimes.lk/261025/news/o…

FOUR-HUNDRED-AND-FIVE MILLION. Read the story to see how much they paid themselves in per diems. Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) Executive Committee incurred more than Rs. 405 million in recorded overseas travel expenses between 2019 and March 2026, according to financial records obtained by the Sunday Times under the Right to Information Act, bringing overseas travel during Shammi Silva’s seven-year administration under renewed scrutiny. @SriLanka sundaytimes.lk/261025/sports…

The original report in @TimesOnlineLK on how China Merchants Port Holding Company pulled out of its massive logistics hub project in the Colombo Port and that the Sri Lanka Ports Authority has agreed to pay US$21.9 million to settle investments in the venture, following a decision by the parties to abandon it. #SriLanka sundaytimes.lk/261018/news/c…

This is great reporting from @observerlk and a horrifying story. "Investigators probing alleged fraud in the Aswesuma welfare payments at the Norwood Divisional Secretariat believe the case could be the largest such fraud detected in Sri Lanka to date, with suspected losses approaching Rs.30 million. "The investigation has also uncovered allegations that State employees obtained Aswesuma payments intended for low-income families by using the details of elderly persons who had died, according to investigators familiar with the inquiry. "One investigator described the Norwood case to the Sunday Observer as the “most serious and largest” Aswesuma fraud uncovered so far." sundayobserver.lk/2026/09/20…

The Excise Department has advertised a tender to buy a new security sticker and track-and-trace system for liquor-based products. The closing date for submissions was extended twice, so the tender is still open. What's interesting is that the procurement initially included an unusual prerequisite (which we noticed and wrote about). Not a bad one, not at all. Just that it isn't a habitual condition: bidders were mandated to hold ISO 37001 certification. ISO 37001 is designed to help an organisation prevent, detect and respond to bribery, including controls over third parties, financial/non-financial controls, due diligence and reporting. In Sri Lanka, only ONE company (in the telecom sector) has it. Then last week, the Department's short advert on the bid closing date extension also said: “Bidder shall be certified with ISO 9001, ISO 14298 or HSSMS, ISO 27001..." Earlier, the tender document said: “Bidder shall be certified with ISO 9001, ISO 14298 or HSSMS, ISO 27001, ISO 37001 for Anti-Bribery Management Systems..." ISO 37001 was first unusually included, then dropped, but while leaving the door ajar: “Bidders who are certified with ISO 37001 (Anti-Bribery Management Systems) will be allocated marks under the Technical Evaluation.” Anyway, one hopes the bid goes well. The old contract didn't stop counterfeit alcohol with authentic excise stickers entering the market and depriving the government of revenue. Full story, via @TimesOnlineLK sundaytimes.lk/260920/news/l…