Sri Lanka's Treasury lost $2.5 million of a debt payment to Australia to hackers

In April 2026, Free Lawyers Organisation chairman Maithri Gunaratne, a President's Counsel, wrote to Parliament Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne asking for a parliamentary investigation into $2.5 million of Treasury funds diverted during a foreign debt repayment, part of a $22.9 million bilateral payment to Australia (Daily FT). The Finance, Planning and Economic Development Ministry said hackers breached the computer system of its External Resources Department in connection with a foreign-currency payment in January 2026, that the matter had been reported to SLCERT, the police Computer Crime Investigation Division, the CID and the Central Bank's Financial Intelligence Unit, and that disciplinary action had begun against several officials. The Treasury appointed a Technical Investigation Committee, and Cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa acknowledged reports that several Treasury officials were suspended. Gunaratne's letter said the current probe is run under an Additional Secretary to the Treasury who also oversees debt repayment, raising concerns over independence, and called for an independent investigation external to the Finance Ministry and Treasury. Opposition MP Namal Rajapaksa called the incident a failure of internal controls at a systemic level.