Treasury officials face travel ban over hacked USD 2.5 million

Treasury Secretary Dr Harshan Suriyapperuma and Central Bank Governor Dr Nandalal Weerasinghe must appear before the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) tomorrow (30) at 2:00 PM. COPF Chairman MP Dr Harsha de Silva announced the summoning to lead an inquiry into the incident where a group of hackers accessed USD 2.5 million from the General Treasury.

The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court imposed a travel ban yesterday on 5 officers of the Public Debt Management Office in connection with the heist. This order followed a report submitted to Magistrate Isuru Neththikumara by the Computer Crimes Division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

The Magistrate further ordered the CID to inspect the bank accounts of the 5 officials involved. Additionally, the court granted a request by the CID to direct the Government Analyst, the head of the Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT), and the Dean of the University of Colombo’s Computer Faculty to appoint a committee for further investigation.

A 27-page summary report was submitted to the court by the CID. Due to the sensitive and sophisticated nature of the investigation, the Magistrate ordered the case file to be kept in a secure safe. While ordering an investigation into the criminal nature of the offence and those responsible, the Magistrate directed the Central Bank to take immediate short-term measures to prevent such incidents in the future.