There will be no sharp decline in the flow of tourists – tour operators – The Island

The People’s Struggle Alliance (PSA), led by JVP splinter group the Front Socialist Party (FSP), yesterday called on its former government colleagues to immediately conduct a thorough investigation into the issues surrounding the acquisition of passports and allegations of fraud in the use of public funds.

Addressing the media in Nugegoda, PSA Colombo constituency candidate Pubudu Jayagoda, contesting next month’s parliamentary elections, warned that government coffers would lose millions of US dollars due to a dubious deal with a private organization to purchase 750,000 N series passports. according to the Decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of September 2, 2024.

“In general, about 2,800 passport applications are submitted daily, but recently only about 1,000 passports have been issued. This shortage is due to the government’s decision to issue a new type of passport. Until now, Machine Readable Passports (MRP) have been issued. The government has decided to introduce electronic passports with a chip and improved security features. This required a new public key infrastructure (PKI). The Expression of Interest (EOI) originally stated that the organization issuing the new passports must also manage the PKI. However, during the tender process this requirement was waived and the final tender was announced without including the CRP.

During the tender, four companies submitted applications, of which three qualified. Among them, Epic Lanka submitted a bid worth US$9.85 million. The next offer from Malaysian company Irish, in collaboration with Metropolitan, was US$6.37 million. The French company Thales, a partner of Just in Time, offered US$5.02 million. As a result, the lowest offer from Just in Time was selected for the tender. However, Epic Lanka, which has been issuing passports in Sri Lanka for 21 years,

challenged the tender process in court, alleging violations. This legal dispute has delayed the implementation of the e-passport system, leading to long queues for passports.

Epic Lanka has consistently maintained that it has the legal rights to issue passports in Sri Lanka and should the contract be awarded to another company, it should receive compensation. However, the Department of Immigration and Emigration is convinced of the opposite. Ultimately, the court ruled that if compensation were to be paid, it should be US$1.50 per passport, and the payment would be decided by a committee. A committee has been appointed but has yet to submit its recommendations.

Epic Lanka claims to have the legal authority to issue passports in Sri Lanka upon production of a letter to that effect, while the Department of Immigration and Emigration denies having received such a letter. Jayagoda said this raises questions about whether the department has signed an agreement with Epic Lanka as they claim, which requires immediate investigation. Just in Time has currently issued 750,000 passports and Epic Lanka must pay US$1.45 for each passport. This amounts to about a million dollars, which represents a significant waste of public funds. The government should immediately clarify its position on this issue, the PSA believes.

“It is important to note that Epic Lanka was previously accused in a data fraud case involving the National Medicines Regulatory Authority.