They have received payments to the tune of Rs 1.3 million over a period of time from the Inland Revenue Department by falsely claiming that they had been overtaxed whereas the CEB had paid the PAYE (pay as you earn) tax on their behalf.

Although this has been brought to the notice of the Power and Energy Ministry and the CEB, action hasn't been taken against the workers. The ministry also ignored the damning COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) assertion that a loan obtained from the JBIC (Japanese Bank for International Corporation) was spent on super luxury vehicles for top officials.

The Auditor General's Department exposed the fraud and all relevant data including the identities of the officials had been

made available to the CEB. The AG's Department said that employees could receive a tax rebate if they produced documentary evidence of taking a loan on interest. But in this case, if any particular CEB official had taken a loan, the tax rebate should have been given to the CEB as the PAYE tax had been paid by the CEB.

Power and Energy Minister John Seneviratne wasn't available for comment. Non-Cabinet Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said that he was out of Colombo and was unable to comment without knowing the full picture.

Officials and trade union sources said that the payment of PAYE tax on behalf of workers was illegal. It would be interesting to know the members of the CEB Board of Directors who authorised this fraudulent payment, Ranjan Jayalal of trade union affiliated to the JVP said.

The COPE last year pointed out that the CEB's debt had been pushed to Rs 15 billion primarily due to mismanagement, inefficiency and corruption and that the internal audit division, too, has been weakened.