SriLankan Airlines fraud in Chennai involved INR22 million allegedly misappropriated by employees through altered invoices and signatures.
SriLankan Airlines fraud concerns have deepened after the national carrier said employees at its Chennai office misappropriated INR22 million.
The airline said a few Indian nationals who worked in the finance department of SriLankan Airlines’ Chennai office were involved in the fraud.
According to the national carrier, the employees had allegedly misappropriated 22 million Indian rupees by fraudulently altering invoices, payment details, and signatures.
SriLankan Airlines said the fraud had taken place over a period of time.
“The Airline’s Head Office in Colombo detected unusual payments and initiated an internal investigation,” SriLankan Airlines said in a statement issued on Saturday.
“Following the internal investigation, the employees concerned ceased reporting to work and appropriate action has been taken against the said employees,” the statement added.
The airline further said the matter was immediately referred to the relevant Indian law enforcement authorities.
Investigations are currently ongoing, and action will be taken to recover the loss, SriLankan Airlines said.
The latest fraud was detected while investigations were already underway into another financial incident involving the national carrier.
In that case, SriLankan Airlines had deposited US$265,000 into the wrong account of a UAE-based service provider after the Dubai agent’s email was compromised.
The airline had reportedly received payment instructions through an official email after the compromise.
Sri Lanka has detected several similar financial frauds in recent months.
These include a US$2.5 million fraud from the Treasury through hacking and a US$625,000 fraud from the Postal Department.
