COLOMBO – An opposition legislator said he had petitioned Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court against the contract given without competitive tender to a private consortium involving companies called IVS-GBS and VFS Global.
Opposition legislator Patali Ranawaka in an X (Twitter) post said he had filed action in the Supreme Court with fellow parliamentarians M. A. Sumanthiran and Rauf Hakeem against the Minister of Public Security and the government alleging a scam over the visa deal.
The Committee on Public Finance (COPF) in Sri Lanka’s Parliament in a report called for the cancellation or amendment of the visa deal, which was struck without competitive tender where foreigners are charged between 10 to 25 dollars to issue a visa.
The tourism industry associations have said the website is difficult to navigate compared to an earlier one run by Sri Lanka’s Mobitel for 1 dollar per visa, and it is putting off visitors.
Sri Lanka’s cabinet has seemingly lost its power to issue free-of-charge visas, unlike competitors in East Asia due to the website.
-economynext.com
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