Representatives of air ticket suppliers are raising serious concerns with the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Agency over how a tender was allegedly awarded to a particular company within a mere 63 minutes to issue airline tickets for 103 workers heading to jobs in Israel.
They claim that this irregularity stems from certain companies being given advance access to critical information—such as passenger details, destinations, and travel dates—even before the tender was officially announced. According to these representatives, this has enabled long-running fraudulent practices involving some officials within the Foreign Employment Agency.
As per standard government tender procedures, a tender must remain open for seven days from the time it is announced. However, in this case, the entire process was reportedly completed in just over an hour.
In light of these allegations, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Agency, Mr. Lal Hetti Arachchi, convened a meeting with airline ticket suppliers and officials to address concerns over how the recent bid process seemed designed to benefit a single company, while bypassing around 25 other registered airline ticket agencies.
During the meeting, several airline ticket representatives submitted documents and data demonstrating how one particular company had reserved seats on airlines in advance—prior to the tender even being called—for the group of 103 workers scheduled to fly to Israel on the 3rd of this month.
These representatives claim the same company has engaged in similar practices repeatedly, in collaboration with certain officials within the agency.
Chairman Lal Hetti Arachchi responded to the allegations by assuring attendees that a thorough investigation would be conducted. He stated that if the facts presented are verified, legal action will be taken against all officers and individuals involved. He emphasized that the agency would not hesitate to act against any form of fraud or misconduct related to the matter.
