Details regarding the investigation into the $2.5 million Treasury cyberheist – which allegedly involve the breaching of a computer system at the Ministry of Finance – are too premature to ascertain those who had been involved in the crime, and what other technical or administerial breakdowns may have led to the incident, Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Anil Jayantha Fernando said, speaking to media yesterday (27).

“There is some information that is yet to be 100% verified, that cannot be revealed. We still do not know if the officials had willingly involved themselves in it, or whether it is due to negligence, or whether it is due to a technical reason or breakdown; or whether it is an administration process breakdown or whether it has to do with the involvement of an external party,” Fernando said.

“Therefore anyone knows, during investigation processes as such, if we reveal all information related to it, it would result in an inability to reprimand those who had committed the crime.” 

The comments were made following Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chairperson Harsha de Silva’s statements, wherein the Opposition MP said the breach was likely due to technical issues and lapses in following basic protocol.

Speaking to the media he said: “I do not believe at all that hackers have infiltrated the computer network of the Ministry. I am 99% confident that this did not happen. There must be another explanation.”

The COPF is to meet today (28) to discuss the breach and loss of funds, according to de Silva. Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma is expected to be summoned before Parliament to provide further clarification, afterwards, accordingly.

Fernando however maintained that the information on the investigation had been leaked to the public on social media, while officials had been conducting an investigation that spanned a few months. “What we rightfully did was carry out an investigation on it, which has not yet concluded. The Criminal Investigations Department (CID), in collaboration with international organisations is in the process of carrying forward this investigation. It is during this investigation – which has been carried out in the span of a few months –  and for some reason, it is amidst this investigation process that information of this has made its way onto social media.”

He reasoned that the publicly available details regarding the investigation were too premature to determine the actors behind the crime, and that revealing any further information regarding the incident at this point in time may compromise the investigation process. “What has happened is a theft. Therefore as soon as we found this out, as the Ministry of Finance, as the officers of the Ministry and the Secretary to the Treasury what should we have done? We should find out where that theft had happened. We cannot share certain information, why? Those who were involved may be still out there, or within Sri Lanka too. We don’t know.”

According to Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Harshana Suriyapperuma, the first attempt to breach the system had been detected in January of this year, which had prompted the Ministry of Finance to notify relevant law enforcement authorities to conduct an investigation.

It was after this attempt that the Ministry crucially directed attention into further investigation into similar past attempts, which thereby led to the uncovering of the supposed $ 2.5 million crime.