A former manager of the Gem and Jewellery Research and Training Institute had stolen a stock of gold and silver with an estimated value of Rs 2,395, 749 in the first half of 2007, the Auditor General Department said.

Although the AG’s department had revealed the waste, corruption and irregularities at public enterprises and even the Parliament, direct charges of fraud levelled against heads of institutes were rare.

AG S. Swarnajothi has informed Faizal Razeen, Chairman of the Institute that the institute which comes under the purview of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Ministry hadn’t reported the loss and damage, in violation of Financial regulations 104 (2) and 105 (1). The AG said though a sum of Rs. 900,000 had been recovered, the Institute had suffered a loss of Rs. 1,495,749. He had attributed this to the inefficiency of the management of the Institute.

According to its annual report for 2007 presented in Parliament, the AG had been severely critical of the management. The AG has estimated the loss of income to the Institute during the year at Rs. 8,991.550 due to its failure to fully implement a planned training programme.

The AG said though the Institute had spent Rs. 3,666,324 on research activities no effective research had been carried out. The audit investigation had revealed that of the total sum spent, three Geologists received Rs. 1,295,615 as payments and the rest on research equipment.

Among other irregularities revealed during the year under review were, the purchase of a geological drilling machine by the Institute at a cost of Rs. 12,309,013 which couldn’t be used due to the non-availability of the required staff and the difficulty in transporting it. Interestingly, DIG Tilak Iddamalgoda (Retd), head of the Presidential Investigation Unit, too, has recommended punitive action against all those involved in the transaction. Iddamalgoda has made his findings on the transaction and informed Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President about it. According to Iddamalgoda, they initiated the investigation following a petition by the SLFP union of the Institute.

The Institute had recruited 14 persons outside the approved cadre without the approval of the Department of Management Services. Among them were a Working Director taken in August 2007 at a monthly allowance of Rs. 20,000 and a fuel allowance of Rs. 7,500.