Sri Lanka immigration chief arrested over visa contract

Harsha Ilukpitiya was ordered to be remanded until the Supreme Court completed its hearing

• Pramod Thomas
• 26 September, 2024

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By: Pramod Thomas

SRI LANKA’s top immigration official was arrested Wednesday (25) for failing to heed a court order to reverse a contract that outsourced visa processing to an India-based consortium.

Harsha Ilukpitiya was ordered to be remanded until the Supreme Court completed its hearing into the allegations of corruption in awarding the contract in April.

That month the Sri Lankan government gave the multimillion-dollar contract to India’s GBS Technology Services and IVS Global FZCO, along with VFS Global as a technology partner, to process the visa applications of foreigners.

Under the outsourcing agreement, any foreigner entering Sri Lanka was required to pay $25 (£19.3) to have their application processed — even citizens of countries that had visa-free travel arrangements with Sri Lanka.

Opposition parties and then-tourism minister Harin Fernando had opposed privatising the process, arguing it would discourage tourists.

In August the Supreme Court issued an injunction that suspended the agreement and ordered the temporary reinstatement of the local telecom provider who had previously handled visa processing.

The petitioners alleged that the contract was not awarded transparently and told the court that the foreign consortium would earn up to $2.75 billion (£2bn) over a 16-year period.

Some 1.19 million tourists came to the island in the first seven months of this year, up 56 percent from the corresponding period in 2023, according to Central Bank of Sri Lanka data.

(AFP)