COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Controller General of Immigration and Emigration has received a two-year prison sentence.
The sentencing marks the latest high-profile conviction under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s anti-corruption campaign.
Harsha Ilukpitiya pleaded guilty to charges of contempt for disregarding court orders to terminate a multi-million dollar visa services contract.
A three-judge Supreme Court bench delivered the sentence, accounting for the year Ilukpitiya has already spent in custody.
The case involved a visa handling agreement awarded by a previous administration that significantly increased fees.
This contract replaced a local provider charging one dollar per visa with a foreign consortium that raised the fee to 25 dollars.
The consortium included India’s GBS Technology Services and IVS Global FZCO, with VFS Global acting as a technology partner.
The new 25-dollar fee was controversially applied even to citizens from countries exempt from visa requirements.
Opposition parties and former tourism minister Harin Fernando had warned the fee hike would deter tourists.
Petitioners claimed the contract lacked transparency and could earn the consortium up to 2.75 billion dollars over 16 years.
The Supreme Court had previously ordered the temporary reinstatement of the original one-dollar visa provider.
Ilukpitiya ignored this court order, leading to the contempt charges and his subsequent imprisonment.
The Supreme Court has not yet issued a final ruling on the legality of the outsourcing agreement itself. – AFP
