• Contrary to Presidential review committee findings 

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has informed the Citizen Power Against Bribery, Corruption and Waste organisation that it has decided not to initiate an investigation into a complaint alleging that Rs 1.32 billion was paid to a contractor involved in a major Mahaweli Water Security Investment Programme (MWSIP) canal project in a manner favourable to the contractor and disadvantageous to the State. 

The CIABOC's decision comes in the wake of a Presidential Secretariat-appointed review committee finding significant failures in the planning, land acquisition and contract management of the project in question. 

In a letter dated 18 September, the CIABOC has informed the Organisation's President Kamantha Thushara that it had decided not to proceed with the complaint as it had found no sufficient grounds to initiate an investigation into the allegations.

The complaint, which was seen by The Daily Morning, concerned the construction of the main canal from Nebagahawatta to the entrance of the Mahakitula Reservoir under the MWSIP’s North-Western Province Canal Project. The Organisation had alleged that the payment of Rs 1.32 billion made to a contractor involved in the project on 13 January amounted to an offence under the Anti-Corruption Act, No. 9 of 2023, and had called for a comprehensive investigation into the roles of former Agriculture Ministers Maithripala Sirisena (also former President) and Roshan Ranasinghe, incumbent Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation Minister K D Lal Kantha, former Agriculture Ministry Secretaries Anura Dissanayake and U  Jayalal, and incumbent Ministry Secretary D Wickramasinghe. The complaint had raised questions over the increase in the value of the canal construction contract and the circumstances in which payments had been made to the contractor. The contract was originally awarded in June 2018 for Rs 7.22 billion with a 917-day completion period. The value was later increased to Rs 15.15 billion, and the review committee had examined a further proposal to increase it to Rs 16.60 billion.

A review committee appointed by the Presidential Secretariat to examine the proposed increase submitted its report on 22 December of last year (2025) to Lal Kantha. The committee examined the circumstances that had led to the increase in the contract value. The committee found significant weaknesses in project planning, contract administration, consultant performance and institutional supervision. It stated that these failures had contributed to contractor claims of around Rs 2 billion and additional price escalation costs of about Rs 5 billion. It also noted that the project had received six extensions of time, with delays linked mainly to problems in handing over land required for construction. The report questioned why the contract had been awarded before the required land had been fully acquired. It noted that an advance payment of Rs 973 million had been made even though the necessary land had not been fully handed over for construction. The first section of land was handed over around 76 days after the contract began, and the committee called for a detailed examination of why the project had proceeded before land acquisition was completed.