Basil’s wife recruits 100 into SLTPB, Jauffer in alleged money scam
While a former minister’s wife was busy recruiting staff for the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) the institution’s head was allegedly misusing state funds, ongoing investigations have revealed.
New recruits at the SLTPB numbering almost 100 interviewed by a former powerful minister’s wife have been discontinued.
Deputy Tourism Minister Wasantha Senanayake told the Business Times that they had found out that nearly 100 persons mainly from the Gampaha district were recruited by former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s wife Ms. Pushpa Rajapaksa a month prior to the recently concluded Presidential election on January 8.
He said the new recruits did not have English qualification, a prerequisite for those joining the SLTPB.
They were recruited as management trainees but since it was not carried out correctly, Deputy Minister Senanayake said they had discontinued work for these persons.
In this regard the SLTPB would be calling for fresh applicants and for these vacancies they would ensure that those recruited would be based on merit; and the new recruits also would be called for interviews, he said.
It was pointed out that the recently discontinued batch would be given one or two marks since they had experience in working at the Bureau.
In the meantime, the SLTPB is riddled with a number of monetary discrepancies, the deputy minister said since the bureau’s former Managing Director Rumy Jauffer was said to have allegedly obtained funds without board approval spending it presumably on “overseas promotions.”
In this respect, Mr. Senanayake pointed out that they would be asking for an audit on how this money was spent and noted that once it was revealed the bureau may have to conduct further investigations.Even though in certain instances it was found that the money was used in conformity to legal requirements yet it was investigated how this was obtained, the deputy minister said.
In addition, the investigations were pointing at how the SLTPB had made awards to companies some of which had sprung up overnight without adopting a proper selection process, Mr. Senanayake said. Ms Rajapaksa was unavailable for a response as she is abroad while Mr. Jauffer could not be reached for comment.