Culture of corruption
That the loss-making carrier is a mess, from top to bottom, is no secret with allegations of rampant mismanagement and conspicuous corruption circulating for years. In 2008, Sri Lankan Airlines made a profit of around $40 million, but within seven years the airline had accumulated losses amounting to nearly $1 billion. As part of a far reaching effort to cull and privatise loss-making government enterprises the Sri Lankan government has hired an international company to undertake a forensic audit of the airline. Once completed a report will be submitted to lawyer J.C. Weliamuna who is heading up a probe into wrong-doing at the airline which has thus far highlighted what has been detailed as serious shortcomings and corrupt decisions at the airline during the tenure of the previous government under Rajapaksa. “Th is audit will show the disparity in pricing of the aircraft that were ordered by the last regime,” parliamentarian and President’s Counsel Dr Jayampathy Wickramaratne said. In fact, an earlier independent panel headed by a former chairman of Transparency International’s Sri Lanka office, found gross violations of financial regulations and procurement procedures saying there was a “culture of corruption” in the airline.
A statement from the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office from April of last year stated: “A Board of Inquiry has found shocking details of corruption running into billions of dollars, manipulations of service contracting, recruitment of unqualified staff and major security breaches at Sri Lankan airlines under the former government… The former government of President Mahinda Rajapakse made management changes to carry out a re-fleeting of the airline with brand-new aircraft costing $2.3 billion despite the availability of more cost effective alternatives…
