Did the NPP/Malimawa Government Steal Rs. 165 million in Aswesuma Funds? What Really Happened

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Aswesuma, the welfare scheme that replaced Samurdhi, reaches some of Sri Lanka’s poorest households, so an allegation that its money had been looted spread fast. Social media erupted with claims that Rs. 165 million had disappeared from Aswesuma, supposedly siphoned off by the Malimawa (NPP) government itself. Here is the real story behind the claim.

Social Media Posts: The Allegation Against the Malimawa Government

The post read: “This government has gutted the Samurdhi programme launched for the vast majority of this country’s underprivileged. The previous administration stripped tens of thousands of beneficiaries of their Aswesuma benefits, and now this very Malimawa government has plundered what little remained for the rest of the underprivileged population.”

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Here is what our investigation uncovered.

Fact-Check: No Credible Source Reported Theft by the Government

The post alleged that Rs. 165 million in Aswesuma funds had been embezzled by the Malimawa government, prompting us to investigate whether the claim had been reported anywhere in mainstream media or by any credible source. Our investigation found no mention, in any credible official source, of such theft or fraud on the part of the government.

What Actually Happened at the Norwood Divisional Secretariat

Audit investigations found that Rs. 165 million earmarked for Aswesuma beneficiaries at the Norwood Divisional Secretariat, home to the island’s largest concentration of Aswesuma recipients, had been embezzled by several officials within that office. Acting on a complaint filed by the Divisional Secretary, Hatton Police arrested two women who had overseen the relevant division and produced them before the Hatton District Court, which ordered their remand until 11 August. As the investigation widened to implicate three further officials, a complaint was lodged on 6 August with Hatton Police’s Special Investigations Unit, seeking a comprehensive probe.

The fraud first came to light when beneficiaries wrote to the Nuwara Eliya District Secretary complaining that they had not received their Aswesuma payments. Both suspects were subsequently transferred to other Divisional Secretariats within the district, while a special audit conducted by a ten-member team drawn from the Nuwara Eliya District Secretariat and the Ministry of Finance’s audit division was launched to uncover the full extent of the fraud. More details can be viewed here, here and here.

A Separate Fraud at the Talawakele Divisional Secretariat

An officer responsible for the Aswesuma Welfare Benefit Programme at the Talawakele Divisional Secretariat also committed financial fraud, transferring Rs. 916,000 belonging to beneficiaries into a bank account held by a relative. Following an internal investigation by the Acting Divisional Secretary of Talawakele, the matter was reported to the police, while the Nuwara Eliya District Secretary immediately suspended the officer involved. Steps were also taken to recover the misappropriate Rs. 916,000 and return it to the Divisional Secretariat’s account. Further details are available here and here. In each case, the fraud was committed by officials at the Divisional Secretariat; the claim that the Aswesuma funds were stolen by the government itself is false.

Welfare Benefits Board

When we contacted the Welfare Benefits Board, they confirmed that a fraud involving Aswesuma funds had taken place at the Norwood Divisional Secretariat and that a preliminary investigation had been completed. The fraud, they stated, was carried out by two female officials at the Divisional Secretariat along with several others attached to it, and they firmly rejected claims that Aswesuma funds had been stolen by the government. All Aswesuma payments, they explained, are made electronically and credited directly to each beneficiary’s own bank account; the officials involved had exploited this system by misusing user accounts within the Aswesuma platform. The Board noted that its findings had since been forwarded to the relevant subject minister through its chairman.

Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Anil Jayantha

When we contacted the office of Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Anil Jayantha, his media secretary likewise confirmed that the financial fraud had been carried out by several officials at the Norwood Divisional Secretariat, and that legal proceedings were now underway against them. She firmly rejected any suggestion that Aswesuma funds had been stolen by the Malimawa government, stating that upon uncovering the fraud, disciplinary and legal action had been taken against the officials involved.

Nuwara Eliya District Secretary Thushari Thennakoon

Nuwara Eliya District Secretary Thushari Thennakoon clarified that the financial fraud was not theft committed by the Malimawa government, but a private scheme orchestrated by a group of officials at the Norwood Divisional Secretariat. Two employees, who had overseen the division since 2023/24, colluded to siphon Rs. 165 million in unpaid Aswesuma dues into their own and their relatives’ bank accounts. Following a petition, both were immediately suspended and transferred to other Divisional Secretariats, with the full extent of the fraud later uncovered when a team from the Social Welfare Board inspected the system. She confirmed that the two employees directly involved had since been arrested and remanded, while three others had been suspended pending further investigation, and noted that any decision on recovering the misappropriated funds now rested with the courts.

Officer-in-Charge, Hatton Police Station

The Officer-in-Charge of Hatton Police Station stated that the two officials involved in the Aswesuma financial fraud at the Norwood Divisional Secretariat had been remanded. He noted that further investigations were ongoing, and that no discussion regarding a mechanism for recovering the misappropriated funds had taken place in court that day.

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Conclusion

It is clear that a financial fraud involving Aswesuma funds, currently uncovered to amount to Rs. 165 million, occurred at the Norwood Divisional Secretariat. The social media post presented this fraud as an act committed by the current Malimawa government. In reality, it was not an act by any political authority within the government, but a criminal financial fraud committed by a group of state officials at the Norwood Divisional Secretariat. The fraud was uncovered through the government’s own institutional mechanisms, and disciplinary and legal action has since been taken against the officials responsible. The claim that the government stole the Aswesuma funds is therefore false.