The government will ban any new unit set up by ministers under their respective ministries which are not listed in the gazette which recognizes institutions and units under those ministries, top government sources disclosed to us.
This follows the detection of a Spa set up by a prominent minister under his ministry under the guise of a physical health exercise centre where young women have been employed as ‘Therapists’ and their salaries being paid by ministry funds.
Sources at the ministry confirmed the existence of that Spa and disclosed that the centre was being managed by the minister’s wife. ‘These young girls brought from a distant district which the minister represents are paid more than the manager of the Spa’, they noted.
They said that plans were afoot to open a branch of the Spa in that district at the cost of the ministry under the guise of expanding the project to provide public health services like massages, physical exercises and therapeutic treatment.
The Nations learns that the issue is to be taken up at cabinet level after President Maithripala Sirisena returns to the country after his official overseas visits to Germany and Austria as Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has taken serious note over waste of public funds under ministries for unwanted projects.
Last week, the Premier warned ministries not to waste public funds and utilize budgetary allocations to deliver results for the benefit of the public.
