Court Orders Release of Email Data in Treasury Fraud Investigation

17-Jul-2026

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The Colombo Fort Magistrate's Court has directed Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) to provide copies of the email data infrastructure of the Public Debt Management Department to a technical committee appointed under the leadership of the University of Colombo, as part of the investigation into the alleged fraud involving US$2.5 million in state funds from the Treasury.

Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasekara issued the order on August 17, 2026, after considering a special application filed by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

During an earlier hearing, the CID informed the court that 16 terabytes of computer data stored on hard drives had already been handed over to the University of Colombo for further forensic examination.

Subsequently, CID officers requested the court to order Sri Lanka Telecom to provide copies of the Public Debt Management Department's email data infrastructure to the university's technical committee to facilitate a comprehensive investigation into the alleged financial fraud.

After considering the submissions made before the court, the Magistrate directed Sri Lanka Telecom to release the required email data copies to the technical committee for investigative purposes.