• Public sector vehicles under NAO’s scrutiny
• 29 of 833 vehicles missing from Presidential Secretariat
• Lack of formal request stalled investigations: Police

Despite President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s directive to investigate the disappearance of 29 vehicles from the Presidential Secretariat, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is yet to take any action.

The President’s Private Secretary Ananda Wijepala announced that the investigation would be carried out by the CID. 

However, according to Police Media Spokesperson DIG Nihal Thalduwa, the CID is yet to start an investigation into this matter.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Thalduwa said that according to the CID DIG, the CID had not received an official request to commence any investigation. 

“The CID DIG said that they are not conducting any investigation regarding the vehicles stored at Galle Face. The President may have given an order to the secretary or someone, but they are yet to issue a proper letter to conduct an investigation. The CID DIG has not received any proper instruction or complaint so far.”

Meanwhile, a survey is also being conducted by the National Audit Office (NAO). 

When contacted by The Sunday Morning to inquire about the current findings and the possible outcome of the survey, Auditor General W.P.C. Wickramaratne disclosed that the survey was still incomplete. 

“We cannot disclose the facts when the audit is ongoing. We can publish it only when it is handed in to Parliament,” he added.

He also highlighted that they could not comment on the possible outcomes because they had only started the survey recently. “I can’t make a statement on that at this moment because we started this last Thursday, but the progress is good.”

He also clarified that it was the NAO’s independent decision to conduct this survey. “Nobody requested it; the NAO has decided to conduct it,” Wickramaratne said. 

He also added that they were focusing on all public sector vehicles and not only Presidential Secretariat vehicles.

Meanwhile, a high-ranking officer attached to the NAO revealed that its current vehicle audit was still in its early stages, with no specific findings being made.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, the official explained that there was no defined purpose behind the audit: “Our mandate is to focus on issues as they arise. If something significant comes up on the news, we will give it special attention at that time.”

The official referred to a previous audit report submitted to the Ministry of Finance and the Presidential Secretariat, which found 29 missing vehicles. “Previously, we submitted an audit report to the Ministry of Finance and the Presidential Secretariat stating that 29 vehicles were missing.”

However, regarding the current audit, the official noted: “Possible findings are not available yet. We don’t have a timeline either. We will decide that only after we complete our work. Right now, we are still handling preliminary tasks and it could take up to a month.

“For now, we need to list the number of vehicles registered in those institutions and check how many physically exist. We need to see how many vehicles are registered with the Registrar of Motor Vehicles (RMV). Afterward, we will need to check through the Electronic Revenue Licence (eRL) system whether the vehicles have valid revenue licences.”

The official emphasised that the audit would only conclude after a thorough verification process. “We cannot simply give a report stating vehicles are missing without completing this verification process. If we look at the Presidential Secretariat alone, we could complete that within a short time, but if we look at all Government vehicles, we cannot give a timeline.”

The official also mentioned previous reports on Government vehicles: “We have, from time to time, conducted inquiries and compiled reports on vehicles, but we have never conducted a comprehensive audit of all vehicles like we are doing now.” 

The current audit team has been assigned to review vehicles at the Presidential Secretariat, Prime Minister’s Office, and Treasury, while other departments have also been instructed to check their vehicle records and report any issues.

According to the President’s Media Division, 29 out of 833 vehicles currently owned by the Presidential Secretariat are unaccounted for. 

In response, President Dissanayake called for a CID investigation into the matter.

Additionally, the President instructed that luxury vehicles previously used by past governments be repurposed strictly for essential public services.