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Former Govt. bought hi-tech tapping devices, but engineers defied orders
View(s):By Namini Wijedasa
The previous Government imported telecommunication surveillance equipment from the Chinese firm Huawei Technologies in October 2014, just months before the presidential election. However, it was never installed because engineers at Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) had refused to follow orders. The equipment came in a box of around eight feet in length and four feet in height, authoritative sources told the Sunday Times, on condition of anonymity. Engineers had instructions to install the device but had perceived it would not be for the public good.
“They had the knowledge to determine what the equipment was based on what the paperwork said,” the sources said. “They have professional ethics so they balked at the orders.” With engineers refusing to do the job, SLT officials who issued the directions had no option but to abandon the plan.
The equipment — the specifications for which were not immediately available — was never taken out of its box. Later, it was sealed with clear plastic paper and remains in such condition inside the Number 2 storeroom at SLT’s Peliyagoda warehouse. The box was recently rediscovered during an inspection tour of the warehouse.
Digital infrastructure Minister Harin Fenrnando first revealed this week that the previous regime had imported hi-tech wiretapping equipment to intercept telephone calls. He said it had been decided to return the equipment to the supplier. However, there have been no such moves so far. It is also not clear whether Huawei, from where the shipment came, would take back merchandise that had been lying unused in a warehouse since SLT took delivery of it.
Shipment documents were in SLT files; however, the money for the equipment had not been paid by SLT, which is a public listed company. The equipment is capable of intercepting high speed voice and data calls, the sources said.
It was also revealed that a former director of Mobitel (a fully owned company of Sri Lanka Telecom), had taken away two encoders from the company before the election. “He had taken them away after signing the necessary documents,” the sources said. “The two encoders are still missing. However, after he was questioned about them after the election, the director paid Rs. 1.25 million to SLT to meet the cost of the encoders.”
Encoders are defined online as a device that converts information from one format or code to another. It is not clear what the director, a staunch Sri Lanka Freedom Party supporter, took them for.