Aswesuma funds paid twice
– In what appeared to be yet another transaction error on the part of the NPP government, Aswesuma beneficiaries have been paid twice, the Daily Mirror learns.The allegation was first queried by opposition leader Sajith Premadasa in Parliament on Tuesday. In the meantime, Free Lawyers, the organization which even revealed the US $ 2.5 million cyber theft, charged that Aswesuma beneficiaries had received their monthly welfare allowances twice due to a transaction error. It happened only a few days after the incident of Road Development Authority (RDA) contractors were paid twice in the similar fashion.
Free lawyers addressed a letter to the Speaker requesting him to conduct an investigation through Parliament into the alleged double payment of Aswesuma allowances, the government’s monthly stipend to low income families.
They wrote that some Rs. 500 million has been paid as additional payments through the Welfare Benefits Board, which is similar to the disappearance of USD 2.5 million from the Treasury.
Free Lawyers further said in the letter that approximately 1,733,000 families were scheduled to receive Aswesuma benefits in April 2026, and a group of them had received a Double Payment.
Another group had received the bonus payment granted by the government with an Additional Payment/Extra Payment.
They said public funds had been used outside the Financial Regulations, without any accountability, without any public financial control, and by bypassing institutional procedures.
“The handling of public funds without a system of Checks and Balances is a crime/corruption/fraud,” they said.
The “Free Lawyers” organization emphasizes that the following questions must be answered immediately by the Parliament, which holds the power over public finance under Article 148 of the Constitution.
They asked how many individuals had received overpayments or double payments out of the nearly 1.8 million families due to receive money in April, whether an investigation has been initiated regarding the double payments made in the Kegalle, Monaragala, and Kurunegala districts, the total number of beneficiaries who received Double Payments or Additional/Extra Payments, the total amount of money issued irresponsibly and without oversight to Aswesuma beneficiaries in excess of the prescribed amount? and the officers who made these payments outside the financial delegation/operating procedures of the Welfare Board.
They also questioned who was the officer/officers/Commissioner appointed to the Welfare Board as a political appointment, whether a preliminary investigation has been conducted under a formal authority regarding this incident of massive waste/misappropriation/corruption resulting from political appointments,whether the Treasury conducted a preliminary investigation into the issuance of these additional funds? If so, have the responsible Treasury officials been identified.
Free Lawyers requested that, when recovering the overpaid funds, measures be taken to recover them only in installments without causing further hardship to these extremely poor people.
