According to Member of Parliament Harsha De Silva, the Auditor General has informed the Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance that the Finance Ministry has refused to change accounts published in the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s (CBSL) Annual Report for 2020 following a request made by the Committee to inquire into alleged manipulation of figures within the report. “After requesting the Auditor General for his input on this matter, we have received a note from him stating that the Ministry of Finance will not change the published accounts,” he told The Morning today (14). De Silva stated that when these accounts were changed in 2020, the Auditor General had already finished the audit for 2019. “Once it has been audited and completed, you cannot change anything. This is accounting fraud and abuse of political power,” he added. The MP also highlighted that while he does not blame the CBSL at all for this as it is mentioned that the numbers were manipulated on the directions of the Treasury, it is unfortunate that the CBSL agreed to this without mentioning that the figures had already been audited. He also mentioned that if the accounting system is to be shifted to an approval basis, both income and expenses must be included. “I believe that the accounting system should change to one that is based on the approval system. However, if it takes place for political purposes just to blame the previous Government, many lies will have to be told to cover this one lie,” he added. Earlier this month, MP De Silva alleged that the Annual Report of the CBSL stated that Sri Lanka’s budget deficit for 2020 was 11% even though it should be higher at 14%, indicating fraudulent cash accounting which cannot be approved by the Auditor General. These statements were recently fact checked and verified to be true by Verité Research, an independent think tank that provides strategic analysis in the areas of economics, politics, law and media.