99% sure Finance Ministry’s computer network has not been hacked – Harsha

The Committee on Public Finance of Parliament is scheduled to meet on Tuesday (28), and a decision will be taken then over the incident involving a US$2.5 million foreign debt repayment without any political party differences, says the Chairman of the Committee, MP Dr. Harsha de Silva.

He also stated that the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance is expected to be summoned to the Parliament based on the decision taken there.

The MP said that it is absolutely unbelievable that the computer network of the Ministry of Finance has been hacked, and if that has happened, it would be a serious issue.

MP Harsha de Silva further said: “The main issue was whether there was a technical negligence. At that time, he told us, no, it was not such and that the government wanted to pay but could not pay due to technical reasons, so they were discussing it with the Australian government.”

“But now, when we get new information about this issue, we feel that the Parliament should have been informed about this in January. The letter submitted by the Secretary says something like this...‘Hackers have entered the Ministry of Finance’s computer network without authorisation. I do not believe that this has happened. If so, that is a very big problem. I do not believe at all that hackers have hacked the Ministry of Finance’s computer network. I am 99% sure that this did not happen. This is something else.”

“Don’t forget, this work is about trust. I hope that the members of the committee will not think about this politically and take that responsibility as Members of Parliament, and summon everyone to Parliament as soon as possible, including the Secretary of the Treasury, convene the Public Finance Committee, and provide the necessary information.”