“I work with one eye. But I work with the thought that I have six eyes.” These words, humble yet haunting, were spoken by Lalith Ambanwala, a name that has re-emerged in the Sri Lankan public consciousness following the high-profile conviction of two former ministers in the infamous carrom board corruption case.
Lalith Ambanwala, the former Additional Auditor General of Sri Lanka, is being celebrated on social media not for any recent appearance, but for his unshakeable legacy, one that refused to bow to threats, violence, or temptation. After years of living in relative obscurity, his role in exposing deep-rooted financial misconduct and surviving a brutal acid attack is again being recognized, especially now that the carrom board verdict has finally delivered justice.
The spotlight returned to Ambanwala when ex-Ministers Mahindananda Aluthgamage and Nalin Fernando were found guilty of misappropriating state funds to distribute tens of thousands of carrom and dam boards during the 2015 presidential election. The verdict not only jailed the politicians but reignited public memory of the brave man who laid the foundation for this prosecution.
Ambanwala joined the Auditor General’s Department as an Audit Superintendent on February 5, 1986. He would go on to serve over 30 years in public service, retiring in November 2017 as Additional Auditor General. A product of Walala Central College and the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Ambanwala stood apart from many of his contemporaries — not for climbing the bureaucratic ladder, but for doing so with unflinching integrity.
In a heartfelt Facebook post, Cyril Anton Perera, Chairman of the National Lotteries Board and the primary complainant in the carrom board case wrote, “The greatest support in giving the right punishment to Mahindananda Aluthgamage came from Lalith Ambanwala. Without him, this complaint would not have been filed. He was the one who found the documents related to this case.”
Perera noted that despite being seriously injured in an acid attack years prior, Ambanwala continued his work, including contributing to the very investigations that led to this historic court decision.
Ambanwala became a national figure after the 2002 acid attack that nearly cost him his life. While serving as an accountant at the Central Province Education Department, he exposed a Rs. 12 million fraud involving the procurement of computers and teacher training scams between 1999 and 2001. His revelations implicated senior officials, including the former Director of Education and the department’s Chief Accountant.
One of the more painful ironies? The chief suspect in the scam was once Ambanwala’s own auditing instructor during his Chartered Accountancy training.
Despite facing bribes — including an offer of Rs. 10 million to stay silent Ambanwala stood his ground. After ignoring threats and even surviving a staged car accident attempt on his life, the assault that finally came was brutal.
In May 2002, just after finishing work, Ambanwala was ambushed. A three-wheeler pulled up next to his car near Asgiriya, and acid was thrown into his face. The attack left him blind in his right eye and required five rounds of plastic surgery to treat the facial burns.
The long road to justice took nearly a decade. In 2010, Kandy High Court Judge Preethi Padman Surasena sentenced seven men involved in the attack. Three of the attackers were given 30 years of prison time in total, while two masterminds behind the plan received 60 years each on three counts (to be served concurrently over 20 years). The court also ordered fines totaling Rs. 3.2 million and Rs. 5 million in compensation for Ambanwala.
Yet, even after enduring unimaginable trauma, Ambanwala never stepped back. In the years that followed, he led or contributed to audits that exposed scandal after scandal:
– The controversial ‘tame elephant’ case involving Magistrate Thilina Gamage.
– The Agriculture Ministry’s inflated rent payments.
– A Rs. 41 million fraud at the State Printing Corporation.
Even after retirement, his crusade continued. He assisted in investigations at the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission and even looked into financial irregularities surrounding the Port City project.
In one touching anecdote, he recalled how Sri Lanka Cricket offered him Rs. 400,000 for a two-week audit. Rather than keep the payment, he redirected the funds toward building a cricket pitch for his alma mater, Walala Central College, a gesture of gratitude that was honored with a facility worth over a million rupees.
Lalith Ambanwala passed away on May 14, 2021. But in an age when Sri Lanka continues to reel under the weight of public sector corruption, his memory serves as a stark reminder that integrity still has a place and a price.
Today, as social media buzzes over the carrom board verdict, it’s clear that Lalith Ambanwala was more than just a witness or a whistleblower. He was a guardian of public accountability, a man who gave up an eye but never blinked in the face of corruption.
SOURCE :- BBC SINHALA
