(COLOMBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) on Tuesday strongly refuted media reports that large sums of money had been spent for lavish entertainment on visiting military heads in 2022.
In a statement the MOD said: “There is no truth behind media reports published recently giving a wrong interpretation that a lot of money has been spent in the year 2022 for entertaining military heads who periodically arrive on inspection visits to the Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC).
The DSCSC plays a unique role in imparting military officers of both Sri Lankan and foreign nations with combat tactics and advanced knowledge.
Accordingly, 148 military officers including 25 military officers from foreign countries and 123 military officers from Sri Lanka participated in the DSCSC course held in 2022.
In accordance with any other Defence Staff College in the Commonwealth Nations, the Secretary of Defence, Chief of the Defence Staff and Tri Forces Commanders conduct lectures every year on national security to student officers which is an integral part of this DSCSC course.
These lectures are done on separate occasions due to the nature of the duties and the practical issues of conducting the lectures on one occasion. Thus, such lectures were conducted on 5 separate occasions.
It is a military norm for the Defence Secretary, Chief of Defence Staff or the Commanders of the Armed Forces to have refreshments at the conclusion of their lecture with the participants of about 200 personnel that may include student officers, directing and permanent staff members providing an opportunity to expand their knowledge.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Defence expresses its regret on such actions of certain media organizations working with the aim of damaging the public’s trust in the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces by irresponsibly expressing opinions about this incident without proper verification of facts”.
