මෙහෙම වැඩි ගානක් ගෙව්වා කියලා කිසිම වැඩිපුර දෙයක් ලැබුණේ නැද්ද? මේක ඇත්තටම කොමිස් තාකා කරපු දෙයක්ද?? බයිජෙප්පෝ කියන කතාව ඇත්තක්ද? මේකට වග කිව යුත්තේ කවුද? දෙන්න බලන්න analysis එකක්.
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E Visa රනිල් හාමු මෙහෙම දෙයක් කරලද ?
- Thread starter johnferna678
- Start date
මෙහෙම වැඩි ගානක් ගෙව්වා කියලා කිසිම වැඩිපුර දෙයක් ලැබුණේ නැද්ද? මේක ඇත්තටම කොමිස් තාකා කරපු දෙයක්ද?? බයිජෙප්පෝ කියන කතාව ඇත්තක්ද? මේකට වග කිව යුත්තේ කවුද? දෙන්න බලන්න analysis එකක්.
waiting for the analysis from Elakiri experts. 
ලංකාවට ටුවරිස්ට්ලා එද්දී ඉන්දියාව ඩොලර් හම්බකරනවා 
ටිරාන් අලස්ටත් ගානක් ලැබුණා ද?
ටිරාන් අලස්ටත් ගානක් ලැබුණා ද?
The VFS Controversy: Making Sense of What Happened
On May 1, 2024 video footage shared on social media showed a Sri Lankan lawyer berating officials for outsourcing the issuance of visas to VFS Global at a congested Bandaranaike airport with long queues. What is the VFS controversy about? What did they do to our tourist visa process?
VFS Global, headquartered in Zurich and Dubai, is backed by several key shareholders including Blackstone, a private equity firm. VFS Global, which has been operating in Sri Lanka since 2004, has been facilitating the visa application process for 22 governments including the UK, Australia, France and New Zealand.
GBS Technology Services and IVS Global partnering with VFS Global first submitted an unsolicited a e-visa and visa on arrival facilitation proposal to the government. Instead of undertaking a competitive tender bidding process, the government appointed a committee on September 11, 2023 to examine the proposal. A cabinet paper was approved by December 11 and an tripartite agreement between the Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE), GBS Technology Services and IVS Global was signed the following week. According to the agreement, VFS Global was awarded a 12 year monopoly to facilitate the e-visa and visa on arrival process.
VFS Global claims that its role is limited to collecting forms, enrolling biometrics and ensuring other travel documentation is in order. However, several changes were made by VFS to the hitherto smooth VISA application process:
- A new website was created to replace the easy to use DIE interface. It requires an One Time Password (OTP) activation process and several additional documents along with the twitter handle and Facebook username of tourists.
- Additional charges were placed on visa applicants. Visa fees for individuals from SAARC countries rose from $20 to $75 and from all other nations from $52 to $100.77.
- In the past, tourists could get a double entry visa so that they can plan their trip to Sri Lanka several months ahead and make the first arrival within six months of the issuance of a visa. Since VFS took over, the period was halved to three months. Tourists who were sold a six months visa by the VFS online portal were later informed that their visa would expire by three months.
- Children below the age of 12 years were given free visas, which are no longer offered under the VFS scheme.
- Tourists from India, China, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia who used to arrive under a free visa scheme now had to pay a $25.77 charge as processing fees.
Reports said that SLT-Mobitel, the government telecommunication agency, had submitted a proposal for the same services with only a $1 fee per visa.
Sri Lanka’s tourist visa fee of $100.77 was much higher than its competitors such as Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam who were charging less than $40. If the 2024 target of 2.3 million tourists visit the country, IVS-GBS and VFS Global stand to gain Rs.12.76 billion over a 12 month period.
Reports indicated that VFS invested $200 million for this program. It remains unclear however where this money was allocated. The Parliament’s Committee on Public Finance summoned the DIE and the Ministry of Public Security to investigate this matter further but officials from both agencies did not turn up at the inquiry.
A popular Youtuber, Will Davis, highlighted a potential data breach by VFS. His private email address received personal details of numerous other tourist applicants. Corruption charges have been levelled at the Public Security Minister, the only government minister publicly standing by the agreement, concerning a 10 million dollar campaign contribution by VFS Global. The Tourism Minister was reportedly not informed of this agreement until it was implemented and has opposed it.
Given the controversy and the confusion this scheme has created, tourists may seek to differ or choose alternative destinations over Sri Lanka. The country may see a net loss as a consequence of this program. Opposition parliamentarians have criticized President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s administration for launching a corrupt program that is “three or four times bigger than the bond scam”. Reports said that Sri Lanka has restarted offering the $50 visa only for single entry although the VFS Global website for e-visa remains in place.
The VFS controversy unveils a series of concerning practices surrounding the outsourcing of the service, especially when cheaper, tried and tested alternatives already existed. The lack of transparency in awarding them a monopoly 12 year contract, coupled with allegations of corruption, data breaches and potential financial discrepancies has sparked widespread criticism. This incident must serve as a stark reminder of the importance of transparent and accountable governance, highlighting the need for thorough scrutiny and ethical considerations in all agreements of this nature to safeguard the interests of the nation and its people.
https://groundviews.org/2024/05/20/the-vfs-controversy-making-sense-of-what-happened/
කොමිස් නම් දන්නේ නෑ . උඩ ලියල තියං ටික ඇත්ත අංක වලින් . හැබැයි ජෙප්පෝ කරපු බක්කක් නෑ . උන් ඕකට කතා කරේ නෑ .
අර චම්පකයා වගේ උන් ටිකක් තමයි ඕකට උසාවි ගියේ .
අර චම්පකයා වගේ උන් ටිකක් තමයි ඕකට උසාවි ගියේ .
ටිරාන් අලස් යාළුව නිසා උන් සද්දෙ වහල හිටිය. එහෙම නෙවෙයි නං රනිල්වයි, ටිරාන් වයි හිරේ දාන්නයි තියෙන්නෙ
visa fees wadi novi karana eka lankawe tourisum walata hodai. special from sarc countries
මට මේ ගැන ලැබුන අත්දැකීමක් ලියන්නම්. ඒක කියවලා, මම VFS එකට කඩේ යනවා කියලා කියන්න එපා.
හරියටම මීට මාස දෙකකට උඩදී මගේ අම්මා හදිසියේ නැතිවුනා. මම ලංකාවට එනකොට, කටුනායකදී, On arrival වීසා ගන්න තමයි අදහස් කලේ. නමුත් මගේ වයිෆ් ලංකාවේ ආගමන විගමන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ වෙබ් සයිට් එක බලලා කිව්වේ On arrival visa දෙන්නේ නැති බවයි. ඒක ඔවුන්ගේ Home page එකේම, ඉතාම පැහැදිලිව (සිංහල ඉංග්රීසි පිටු දෙකේම) දක්වා තියනවා. එතැන එහෙම තිබුනට, ඒ වෙබ් අඩවියේ වෙනත් තැනක on arrival දෙනවා කියලාත් තියනවා. මේ ගැන අහන්න ඒ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ තියන සියලුම ටෙලිපෝන් නොම්මර වලටත් email වලිනුත් උත්සාහ කළා, කිසිම ෆෝන් එකකට ආන්සර් කරන්නේ නැහැ. සමහ email වැඩ කරන්නෙත් නැහැ, වැඩ කරන ඒවායිනුත් පිළිතුරක් නැහැ.
මම එවලේම VFS එකෙන් විසා ඇප්ලයි කළා. නමුත් ඔවුන් විසා දෙන්නේ ඉල්ලු දිනට පසුවදා සිට මිසක් ඉල්ලූ දින සිට නොවෙයි. මම එවලේම ඔවුන්ගේ contact number (මතක හැටියට Whatsapp ) එකට කතා කළා. පිළිතුරු දුන් කෙනාට මගේ ප්රශ්නය කිව්වාම, (මුලින්ම මගේ අම්මාගේ අභාවය ගැන කණගාටුව ප්රකාශ කරන්න තරම් ආචාරශීලී උන බවත් නොකියාම බැහැ ) ඔහු කිව්වේ මේ වෙනකොටත් මගේ ඇප්ලිකේෂන් එක Dept of Immigration යවලා ඇති බවත්, ඒ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ප්රමාදයක් මිස, VFS එකෙන් මේක ප්රමාද කරන්නේ නැති බවත්, මගේ අයදුමට ඔවුන් ප්රමුඛතාව දී දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවෙන් අනුමත වූ වහාම ඒක එවන බවටත් පොරොන්දු වුනා.
මේ අතර අපි ලංකාවටත් කතා කරලා, මේ ගැන හොයා බලන්න උත්සාහ කළා. ඒ අතරේ මම නැවතත් VFS එකට කතා කරලා විසා නිකුත් කරන දිනය, ඒ කියන්නේ රාත්රී 12 ට ද කියන එක ගැන හොයා බැලුවා. ඉතාම හොඳින් මේ මට ගැන පැහැදිලි කරදුන් VFS එක, මම ගොඩබහින්නේ රාත්රී 11 නිසා, පැයක ප්රමාදයක් පමණක් ඇතුව මට ලංකාවට ඇතුල් වෙන්න පුළුවන් වෙන බව කිව්වා.
ඒ අතරේ ලංකාවෙන් අපිට ලැබුන පිළිතුර වුනේ On Arrival දෙන බව 100% ස්ථිර බවයි. (web site එකේ දෙන්නේ නැහැයි කියනවා)
තවත් පැයකින් පමණ මට කතාකල VFS එක කිව්වේ විසා නිකුත් කල බවයි.
VFS කාරයන්ගේ සේවය වෙනුවෙන් අය කරන ඩොලර් 25 කියන එකේ වටිනාකම පේන්නේ මේ වගේ අවස්ථාවකයි. Rings දෙක තුනකදී ෆෝන් එක ආන්සර් කරනවා. සලකා බලන්නම් වගේ වැනෙන පිළිතුරු නැහැ, හරියටම facts ඇතුව ආචාරශීලීව කතා කරනවා.
වෙබ් සයිට් එකේ පිස්සු ලියලා තියන, කවදාවත් ටෙලිපොන් එකට ආන්සර් නොකරන, ඊ මේල් වලට උත්තර නොදෙන ලංකාවේ ඉමිග්රේෂන් ඩිපාර්ට්මන්ට් එකෙන්, ලංකාවට එන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වෙන සංචාරකයෙකුගේ ප්රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරක් ලබා ගන්නේ කොහොමද?
The VFS Visa Deal – The Anatomy of a Scam.
by Rohan Pethiyagoda
In 2012, the Department of Immigration & Emigration (DIE) contracted Mobitel, which is in effect a state-owned enterprise, to establish and operate an online gateway for foreigners wishing to apply for visas to Sri Lanka. For the next twelve years, from 2012 to 2024, the system operated flawlessly. Better still, Mobitel offered the service free of charge to the DIE while recovering part of its costs from advertising and promoting its services to tourists. In all those 12 years, Mobitel didn’t receive a single letter from DIE complaining that the service was in any way less than perfect.
By 2018, however, it became clear to Mobitel that in order to keep up with technology and also the growing number of tourists, both the hardware and software of the system needed upgrading. Finally, after protracted negotiations with DIE, on December 14, 2020, Mobitel submitted a proposal offering to invest in upgrading the system as required by DIE. All it asked in return was US$ 1 per applicant. Thereafter, Mobitel and DIE engaged in technical discussions to precisely define the new system and finally, on August 23, 2023, submitted a final, comprehensive proposal. Meanwhile, the system continued to work perfectly, entirely for free.
Divorce Proceedings
At 3.07 p.m. on April 5, 2024, Mobitel’s management was astonished to receive an email from the Assistant Director (Information Technology) of DIE, a junior fourth-rung officer, directing Mobitel to cease processing applications from 11:59 pm on 5 April 2024. No reason was given. However, at 3.30 pm the same day, Mobitel received another email from DIE cancelling the former email. Again, no explanation. To this day, despite repeated requests from Mobitel, DIE has never explained what was going on.
Finally, at 2:32 pm on 16 April 2024, DIE’s Assistant Controller (IT) sent a further email directing Mobitel to switch of the system at midnight. Mobitel responded by asking for a written direction from the Commissioner General of DIE, which was received shortly thereafter. At midnight on April 16, the 12-year collaboration between Mobitel and DIE came to an end. The reasons for the termination remained a mystery until finally, on July 12, Harsha de Silva, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance issued a damning 640-page report: “Outsourcing Online Visa and Passport Application Services between the Consortium and the Department of Immigration and Emigration of Sri Lanka”. By ‘consortium’, it meant GBS Technology Services & IVS Global-FZCO (IVS-GBS) and VF Worldwide Holdings LTD (VFS Global). While the beneficial owners of these companies remain shrouded in mystery, the companies themselves are located in Dubai, notoriously a tax haven. Here, for short, I will refer to these entities collectively as VFS, which is the largest and best known among them.
Opaque Process
Unknown to Mobitel, in June 2023 a Dubai-based entity known as IVS-GBS Global Services had submitted to the Ministry of Public Security an unsolicited proposal titled “Comprehensive Proposal on E-Visa, Consular Services, Visa Services, Biometric Services and Tourism Promotion”.
VFS’s unsolicited proposal gave the fee structure as $30 for the ETA plus a $25 fee for IVS-GBS-VFS, basically for providing the same service that Mobitel provided free of charge from 2012 to 2024. What is surprising is that the service fee demanded by IVS was staggering 83% of the revenue that the government would get from visa fees.
Cabinet Approval
Nevertheless, Tiran Alles, the Minister of Public Security, submitted the IVS-GBS proposal to cabinet on September 8, 2023, noting “I observe that this Institution is an internationally renowned company” even though, for practical purposes, it essentially services only India. By way of justification for abandoning the $1 Mobitel system and transferring to the very expensive IVS system, the Minister provided several ‘justifications’. First is that because the IVS user interface is “designed in the languages of each country, foreigners may provide more opportunities to apply for visa to visit this country”. This, however, is not true: the site operates entirely in English. You can check for yourself: https://online.srilankaevisa.lk/
The Minister goes on to state, without any justification, that IVS will charge a service fee of USD 18.50 from each visa applicant. Finally, he adds, “the Government does not have to bear any cost in implementing this Programme”. However, given that the USD 18.50 paid to IVS is a mandatory condition of applying for a Sri Lankan visa, it is in effect a levy made by the government and paid to IVS, though bypassing the Consolidated Fund and without any transparent procurement procedure. This is arguably a violation of Article 148 of the Constitution.
$200 million ‘evaporates’
The cabinet memorandum continues, “IVS -GBS global Services has proposed to invest a sum of 200 million USD to provide the relevant technical equipment, software and knowledge for the system integration to be made with the Department of Immigration and Emigration in rendering the relevant services by this Company.” Nowhere in the final Outsourcing Agreement signed between Controller General of DIE and IVS-GBS-VHS is this $200 million mentioned. It has simply evaporated.
Amazingly, on 11 September 2023, the Cabinet passed the proposal through on the nod, appointing an Evaluation Committee comprising of five individuals drawn from the administrative service who evidently have no background in IT. They were T.V.D. Damayanthi S. Karunaratne (Additional Secretary, Development & Planning of the Ministry of Public Security); I.S.H.J. Ilukpitiya, Commissioner General of Immigration & Emigration; Mr Champika Ramawickrema, Senior Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government; M.P.D.P. Pathirana, Chief Financial Officer, Ministry of Public Security; and Mr M.R.G.A. Muthukuda, Additional Director General, Department of Fiscal Policy (representing the Secretary to the Treasury). Given that none of these people is a software expert (this is, after all, a software services procurement), it is astonishing that no Technical Committee was appointed. Neither was there a Cabinet Appointed Negotiating Committee, to assess whether the $18.50 fee was reasonable. It was simply passed through on the nod.
It seems astonishing that President Ranil Wickremesinghe did not suggest that before farming this massive project out to a foreign entity who had submitted an unsolicited bid, a local tender should be floated. After all, Mobitel had already demonstrated its ability to design and operate the necessary system not just flawlessly but at just $1 per applicant. Besides, Sri Lankan software companies are outstanding by even world standards. It is their software that drives the stock exchanges of London, Italy and South Africa, among others. More importantly, perhaps, the president himself has been endlessly touting the need to “enrich, empower and enable” Sri Lankans to develop local IT capacity, going on and on about “the importance of digitalization”, the “digital public economy”, “creating a Digital Transformation Agency” with a budget of Rs 1 billion, etc etc (see this release by the President’s Media Division: https://pmd.gov.lk/news/president-w...for-poverty-reduction-and-educational-reform/). Clearly, Wickremesinghe is better at talking the talk than walking the walk.
The ‘Evaluation’
Amazingly for an ‘evaluation committee’, the committee made no evaluation of the most crucial factor in the VFS proposal, namely, the $18.50 service fee. How was this calculated? Was it justified? Was it competitive? No comment. With 1.4 million tourists coming into Sri Lanka, this adds up to a staggering $26 million, or Rs 8 billion per year. And the contract is for 16 years, with provision for 10% hike every two years. Someone is laughing all the way to the bank.
As it happened, the Evaluation Committee made no comment on, or comparison of Mobitel’s $1 offer against VFS’s $18.50 price. It acted purely as a rubber stamp. Indeed, it is open to question as to whether its members had the technical or negotiating skills needed to effectively evaluate VFS’s unsolicited offer.
Attorney General
Agreements signed by government agencies are usually vetted by the Attorney General, and this one was no exception. On 15.11.2023, the AG’s observations, signed by Senior Deputy Solicitor General Mahen Gopallawa, were issued. These were confined to purely semantic issues, with no recommendations on process. A disclaimer at the end makes this explicit: “It is assumed that the financial and technical implications of the agreement have been carefully considered and that all necessary approvals have been or will be obtained prior to its execution.” That, however, was an assumption too far. Neither the cabinet nor the Evaluation Committee had paid the slightest attention to the biggest financial implication, namely, the exorbitant fee of $18.50 being charged by IVS-GBS-VFS. In fact, there is no mention in any document that the USD 18.50 service charge was ever justified or even queried.
Contd......below
by Rohan Pethiyagoda
In 2012, the Department of Immigration & Emigration (DIE) contracted Mobitel, which is in effect a state-owned enterprise, to establish and operate an online gateway for foreigners wishing to apply for visas to Sri Lanka. For the next twelve years, from 2012 to 2024, the system operated flawlessly. Better still, Mobitel offered the service free of charge to the DIE while recovering part of its costs from advertising and promoting its services to tourists. In all those 12 years, Mobitel didn’t receive a single letter from DIE complaining that the service was in any way less than perfect.
By 2018, however, it became clear to Mobitel that in order to keep up with technology and also the growing number of tourists, both the hardware and software of the system needed upgrading. Finally, after protracted negotiations with DIE, on December 14, 2020, Mobitel submitted a proposal offering to invest in upgrading the system as required by DIE. All it asked in return was US$ 1 per applicant. Thereafter, Mobitel and DIE engaged in technical discussions to precisely define the new system and finally, on August 23, 2023, submitted a final, comprehensive proposal. Meanwhile, the system continued to work perfectly, entirely for free.
Divorce Proceedings
At 3.07 p.m. on April 5, 2024, Mobitel’s management was astonished to receive an email from the Assistant Director (Information Technology) of DIE, a junior fourth-rung officer, directing Mobitel to cease processing applications from 11:59 pm on 5 April 2024. No reason was given. However, at 3.30 pm the same day, Mobitel received another email from DIE cancelling the former email. Again, no explanation. To this day, despite repeated requests from Mobitel, DIE has never explained what was going on.
Finally, at 2:32 pm on 16 April 2024, DIE’s Assistant Controller (IT) sent a further email directing Mobitel to switch of the system at midnight. Mobitel responded by asking for a written direction from the Commissioner General of DIE, which was received shortly thereafter. At midnight on April 16, the 12-year collaboration between Mobitel and DIE came to an end. The reasons for the termination remained a mystery until finally, on July 12, Harsha de Silva, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance issued a damning 640-page report: “Outsourcing Online Visa and Passport Application Services between the Consortium and the Department of Immigration and Emigration of Sri Lanka”. By ‘consortium’, it meant GBS Technology Services & IVS Global-FZCO (IVS-GBS) and VF Worldwide Holdings LTD (VFS Global). While the beneficial owners of these companies remain shrouded in mystery, the companies themselves are located in Dubai, notoriously a tax haven. Here, for short, I will refer to these entities collectively as VFS, which is the largest and best known among them.
Opaque Process
Unknown to Mobitel, in June 2023 a Dubai-based entity known as IVS-GBS Global Services had submitted to the Ministry of Public Security an unsolicited proposal titled “Comprehensive Proposal on E-Visa, Consular Services, Visa Services, Biometric Services and Tourism Promotion”.
VFS’s unsolicited proposal gave the fee structure as $30 for the ETA plus a $25 fee for IVS-GBS-VFS, basically for providing the same service that Mobitel provided free of charge from 2012 to 2024. What is surprising is that the service fee demanded by IVS was staggering 83% of the revenue that the government would get from visa fees.
Cabinet Approval
Nevertheless, Tiran Alles, the Minister of Public Security, submitted the IVS-GBS proposal to cabinet on September 8, 2023, noting “I observe that this Institution is an internationally renowned company” even though, for practical purposes, it essentially services only India. By way of justification for abandoning the $1 Mobitel system and transferring to the very expensive IVS system, the Minister provided several ‘justifications’. First is that because the IVS user interface is “designed in the languages of each country, foreigners may provide more opportunities to apply for visa to visit this country”. This, however, is not true: the site operates entirely in English. You can check for yourself: https://online.srilankaevisa.lk/
The Minister goes on to state, without any justification, that IVS will charge a service fee of USD 18.50 from each visa applicant. Finally, he adds, “the Government does not have to bear any cost in implementing this Programme”. However, given that the USD 18.50 paid to IVS is a mandatory condition of applying for a Sri Lankan visa, it is in effect a levy made by the government and paid to IVS, though bypassing the Consolidated Fund and without any transparent procurement procedure. This is arguably a violation of Article 148 of the Constitution.
$200 million ‘evaporates’
The cabinet memorandum continues, “IVS -GBS global Services has proposed to invest a sum of 200 million USD to provide the relevant technical equipment, software and knowledge for the system integration to be made with the Department of Immigration and Emigration in rendering the relevant services by this Company.” Nowhere in the final Outsourcing Agreement signed between Controller General of DIE and IVS-GBS-VHS is this $200 million mentioned. It has simply evaporated.
Amazingly, on 11 September 2023, the Cabinet passed the proposal through on the nod, appointing an Evaluation Committee comprising of five individuals drawn from the administrative service who evidently have no background in IT. They were T.V.D. Damayanthi S. Karunaratne (Additional Secretary, Development & Planning of the Ministry of Public Security); I.S.H.J. Ilukpitiya, Commissioner General of Immigration & Emigration; Mr Champika Ramawickrema, Senior Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government; M.P.D.P. Pathirana, Chief Financial Officer, Ministry of Public Security; and Mr M.R.G.A. Muthukuda, Additional Director General, Department of Fiscal Policy (representing the Secretary to the Treasury). Given that none of these people is a software expert (this is, after all, a software services procurement), it is astonishing that no Technical Committee was appointed. Neither was there a Cabinet Appointed Negotiating Committee, to assess whether the $18.50 fee was reasonable. It was simply passed through on the nod.
It seems astonishing that President Ranil Wickremesinghe did not suggest that before farming this massive project out to a foreign entity who had submitted an unsolicited bid, a local tender should be floated. After all, Mobitel had already demonstrated its ability to design and operate the necessary system not just flawlessly but at just $1 per applicant. Besides, Sri Lankan software companies are outstanding by even world standards. It is their software that drives the stock exchanges of London, Italy and South Africa, among others. More importantly, perhaps, the president himself has been endlessly touting the need to “enrich, empower and enable” Sri Lankans to develop local IT capacity, going on and on about “the importance of digitalization”, the “digital public economy”, “creating a Digital Transformation Agency” with a budget of Rs 1 billion, etc etc (see this release by the President’s Media Division: https://pmd.gov.lk/news/president-w...for-poverty-reduction-and-educational-reform/). Clearly, Wickremesinghe is better at talking the talk than walking the walk.
The ‘Evaluation’
Amazingly for an ‘evaluation committee’, the committee made no evaluation of the most crucial factor in the VFS proposal, namely, the $18.50 service fee. How was this calculated? Was it justified? Was it competitive? No comment. With 1.4 million tourists coming into Sri Lanka, this adds up to a staggering $26 million, or Rs 8 billion per year. And the contract is for 16 years, with provision for 10% hike every two years. Someone is laughing all the way to the bank.
As it happened, the Evaluation Committee made no comment on, or comparison of Mobitel’s $1 offer against VFS’s $18.50 price. It acted purely as a rubber stamp. Indeed, it is open to question as to whether its members had the technical or negotiating skills needed to effectively evaluate VFS’s unsolicited offer.
Attorney General
Agreements signed by government agencies are usually vetted by the Attorney General, and this one was no exception. On 15.11.2023, the AG’s observations, signed by Senior Deputy Solicitor General Mahen Gopallawa, were issued. These were confined to purely semantic issues, with no recommendations on process. A disclaimer at the end makes this explicit: “It is assumed that the financial and technical implications of the agreement have been carefully considered and that all necessary approvals have been or will be obtained prior to its execution.” That, however, was an assumption too far. Neither the cabinet nor the Evaluation Committee had paid the slightest attention to the biggest financial implication, namely, the exorbitant fee of $18.50 being charged by IVS-GBS-VFS. In fact, there is no mention in any document that the USD 18.50 service charge was ever justified or even queried.
Contd......below
Cabinet Approval
Then, with the reports of the Evaluation Committee and the Attorney General in hand, on 4 December 2023 the Minister of Public Security sought cabinet approval to sign the contract with the consortium. In his capacity as Minister of Finance, President Wickremesinghe endorsed the Evaluation Committee’s report, noting only that “Prior to entering into an Agreement, the Ministry of Public Security must ensure strict compliance with all the recommendations made by the Attorney General’s Department on the Agreement.” Astonishingly, he made no mention of the USD 18.50 service charge, which both the Evaluation Committee and the Attorney General had deftly sidestepped. Thus it was that the elephant sneaked into the room with the Evaluation Committee, the Attorney General, the minister and the president all studiously looking the other way even as $18.50 per tourist came to be siphoned into an offshore account. This is money that should properly come into the Consolidated Fund.
Tourism on the Rocks
What is more, the activity of promoting inbound tourism to Sri Lanka has now been awarded to this consortium on an exclusive basis, in effect making the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and its staff redundant. DIE Controller General Harsha Ilukpitiya, with no authority from cabinet, with no consultation with the tourism industry, and possibly without the consent of Tourism Minister Harin Fernando, signed away the rights to tourism promotion in Sri Lanka for the next 16 years to GBS-IVS-VFS, which has no known capacity in this highly specialized field. In this context, it is noteworthy that a co-owner of VFS is the giant tourism operator Kuoni, with immediate conflict-of-interest issues. So much for the zeal of the Evaluation Committee.
The Outsourcing Agreement also notes that VFS’s service fee of USD 18.50 per visa application “will be exclusive of any payment gateway, local taxes as applicable and other transaction fees”. All these are unspecified, and the consortium is therefore open to fleece tourists coming to Sri Lanka for as much as they want for the next 16 years.
AG vs COPF
On 9 May 2024, the Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance (COPF) requested the Attorney General to clarify whether the fees of USD 18.50 was a levy that would have to be authorised by Parliament under Article 148 of the Constitution. That is, whether like visa fees, this fee requires approval by parliament. The AG responded that no such parliamentary approval was needed. In doing so, the AG, no doubt unwittingly, misled COPF, writing, “The fee charged by the Service Providers (i.e. IVSGBS and VFS) is a “service fee” charged from applicants for on line visas for the service provided to them by the Service Provider and does not form part of the Visa Fees that are approved by Parliament. In the circumstances, Parliamentary approval for them does not arise”. The question then arises, if parliament does not approve the $18.50 fee, who does? It is entirely arbitrary.
The AG further justified this stance on the basis that it is not compulsory for foreigners to obtain their visas from IVS-GBS-VFS (if it were compulsory, the USD 18.50 would be a compulsory fee and hence subject to parliamentary approval), writing: “According to the Controller General, after the Outsourcing Agreement, an applicant has the following options: (a) Apply to the respective Sri Lankan Embassies; (b) Obtain visas through IVSGBS and VFS; (c) Obtain “on arrival” visas for 30 day tourist and business visas”.
Sadly, it appears that the Controller General of DIE had misled the AG. Any foreigner wishing to get a tourist visa to Sri Lanka and viewing the web portal of the Department of Immigration & Emigration (https://www.immigration.gov.lk/pages_e.php?id=14) gets the following message, in bold red letters:
“IMPORTANT NOTICE: With effect from 17th April 2024, all Tourist or Business travelers to Sri Lanka must have e-Visa for entering in to Sri Lanka. Please visit https://www.srilankaevisa.lk for more information.” Nowhere on this site does it say that “on arrival” visas are available, or that Sri Lanka missions or embassies issue visas. In fact, nowhere on the page does the word ‘embassy’ even appear. Therefore, as far as tourists are concerned, it is compulsory that they get their visas from the IVS-GBS-VFS site https://www.srilankaevisa.lk/. What’s more, that site itself boldly announces, “ALL visitors MUST complete an eVisa application prior to their arrival in the country”. No doubt, after reading this article, DIE may seek to hastily amend their web page. If so, too late: I see that the entire DIE website has already been archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240713021620/https://www.immigration.gov.lk/pages_e.php?id=14
It is now incontrovertible that, presumably because he himself was misled by the Controller General of DIE, the AG misled parliament.
Public Interest
Why should anyone care that VHS pockets a hefty $18.50 from every tourist who visits Sri Lanka? After all, it isn’t ‘our’ money. First off, it SHOULD be our money. This is money that the government of Sri Lanka forces every person wishing to visit Sri Lanka to pay to VFS. In fact, as the DIE and VFS websites make clear, if you don’t pay it, you can’t get a visa. Therefore, it is a levy charged by the government and siphoned off to VFS in Dubai without going through the Consolidated Fund and being subject to parliamentary oversight as required by Article 148 of the Constitution.
Second, the so-called service fee of $18.50 is arbitrary. It was not negotiated or evaluated by the Evaluation Committee, the Cabinet, the DIE or the Ministry of Public Security. What, if instead of $18.50 it was $1000? Whose job was it to say, ‘Hang on a minute, that’s too much’? No one, not the Evaluation Committee, the Cabinet or the DIE have said anywhere that that figure is reasonable.
COPF Chairman Harsha de Silva is already on record as saying that the Auditor General’s report on this matter should be handed over to the CID and the Bribery Commission. This is particularly apt because VFS is partly owned by Blackstone, a New York based financial giant. And thus, VFS falls under the purview of the US FCPA or Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The FCPA requires companies whose securities are listed in the USA to meet stringent accounting and anti-bribery provisions. It remains to be seen whether COPF will forward the Auditor General’s report to the US Department of Justice, requesting an FCPA investigation. Who knows, Sri Lanka might just get enough compensation to pay off its national debt.
Then, with the reports of the Evaluation Committee and the Attorney General in hand, on 4 December 2023 the Minister of Public Security sought cabinet approval to sign the contract with the consortium. In his capacity as Minister of Finance, President Wickremesinghe endorsed the Evaluation Committee’s report, noting only that “Prior to entering into an Agreement, the Ministry of Public Security must ensure strict compliance with all the recommendations made by the Attorney General’s Department on the Agreement.” Astonishingly, he made no mention of the USD 18.50 service charge, which both the Evaluation Committee and the Attorney General had deftly sidestepped. Thus it was that the elephant sneaked into the room with the Evaluation Committee, the Attorney General, the minister and the president all studiously looking the other way even as $18.50 per tourist came to be siphoned into an offshore account. This is money that should properly come into the Consolidated Fund.
Tourism on the Rocks
What is more, the activity of promoting inbound tourism to Sri Lanka has now been awarded to this consortium on an exclusive basis, in effect making the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau and its staff redundant. DIE Controller General Harsha Ilukpitiya, with no authority from cabinet, with no consultation with the tourism industry, and possibly without the consent of Tourism Minister Harin Fernando, signed away the rights to tourism promotion in Sri Lanka for the next 16 years to GBS-IVS-VFS, which has no known capacity in this highly specialized field. In this context, it is noteworthy that a co-owner of VFS is the giant tourism operator Kuoni, with immediate conflict-of-interest issues. So much for the zeal of the Evaluation Committee.
The Outsourcing Agreement also notes that VFS’s service fee of USD 18.50 per visa application “will be exclusive of any payment gateway, local taxes as applicable and other transaction fees”. All these are unspecified, and the consortium is therefore open to fleece tourists coming to Sri Lanka for as much as they want for the next 16 years.
AG vs COPF
On 9 May 2024, the Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance (COPF) requested the Attorney General to clarify whether the fees of USD 18.50 was a levy that would have to be authorised by Parliament under Article 148 of the Constitution. That is, whether like visa fees, this fee requires approval by parliament. The AG responded that no such parliamentary approval was needed. In doing so, the AG, no doubt unwittingly, misled COPF, writing, “The fee charged by the Service Providers (i.e. IVSGBS and VFS) is a “service fee” charged from applicants for on line visas for the service provided to them by the Service Provider and does not form part of the Visa Fees that are approved by Parliament. In the circumstances, Parliamentary approval for them does not arise”. The question then arises, if parliament does not approve the $18.50 fee, who does? It is entirely arbitrary.
The AG further justified this stance on the basis that it is not compulsory for foreigners to obtain their visas from IVS-GBS-VFS (if it were compulsory, the USD 18.50 would be a compulsory fee and hence subject to parliamentary approval), writing: “According to the Controller General, after the Outsourcing Agreement, an applicant has the following options: (a) Apply to the respective Sri Lankan Embassies; (b) Obtain visas through IVSGBS and VFS; (c) Obtain “on arrival” visas for 30 day tourist and business visas”.
Sadly, it appears that the Controller General of DIE had misled the AG. Any foreigner wishing to get a tourist visa to Sri Lanka and viewing the web portal of the Department of Immigration & Emigration (https://www.immigration.gov.lk/pages_e.php?id=14) gets the following message, in bold red letters:
“IMPORTANT NOTICE: With effect from 17th April 2024, all Tourist or Business travelers to Sri Lanka must have e-Visa for entering in to Sri Lanka. Please visit https://www.srilankaevisa.lk for more information.” Nowhere on this site does it say that “on arrival” visas are available, or that Sri Lanka missions or embassies issue visas. In fact, nowhere on the page does the word ‘embassy’ even appear. Therefore, as far as tourists are concerned, it is compulsory that they get their visas from the IVS-GBS-VFS site https://www.srilankaevisa.lk/. What’s more, that site itself boldly announces, “ALL visitors MUST complete an eVisa application prior to their arrival in the country”. No doubt, after reading this article, DIE may seek to hastily amend their web page. If so, too late: I see that the entire DIE website has already been archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240713021620/https://www.immigration.gov.lk/pages_e.php?id=14
It is now incontrovertible that, presumably because he himself was misled by the Controller General of DIE, the AG misled parliament.
Public Interest
Why should anyone care that VHS pockets a hefty $18.50 from every tourist who visits Sri Lanka? After all, it isn’t ‘our’ money. First off, it SHOULD be our money. This is money that the government of Sri Lanka forces every person wishing to visit Sri Lanka to pay to VFS. In fact, as the DIE and VFS websites make clear, if you don’t pay it, you can’t get a visa. Therefore, it is a levy charged by the government and siphoned off to VFS in Dubai without going through the Consolidated Fund and being subject to parliamentary oversight as required by Article 148 of the Constitution.
Second, the so-called service fee of $18.50 is arbitrary. It was not negotiated or evaluated by the Evaluation Committee, the Cabinet, the DIE or the Ministry of Public Security. What, if instead of $18.50 it was $1000? Whose job was it to say, ‘Hang on a minute, that’s too much’? No one, not the Evaluation Committee, the Cabinet or the DIE have said anywhere that that figure is reasonable.
COPF Chairman Harsha de Silva is already on record as saying that the Auditor General’s report on this matter should be handed over to the CID and the Bribery Commission. This is particularly apt because VFS is partly owned by Blackstone, a New York based financial giant. And thus, VFS falls under the purview of the US FCPA or Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The FCPA requires companies whose securities are listed in the USA to meet stringent accounting and anti-bribery provisions. It remains to be seen whether COPF will forward the Auditor General’s report to the US Department of Justice, requesting an FCPA investigation. Who knows, Sri Lanka might just get enough compensation to pay off its national debt.
මේ කියන විදියට නිකන්ම මුන්ට දීලා වෙන්න බෑ නේ. 1mhotep කියන විදියට 200 miliion අරගෙන නේ දීලා තියෙන්නේ. මේක කොහෙටද ගියේ කියලා බලන්න ඕනේ.
Pandora papers walath nama thiyanawa tiran geලංකාවට ටුවරිස්ට්ලා එද්දී ඉන්දියාව ඩොලර් හම්බකරනවා
ටිරාන් අලස්ටත් ගානක් ලැබුණා ද?
නැතුව යකෝ උසාවි නියෝග තියෙද්දි දිගට දිව්වෙ වෙන මොකටදලංකාවට ටුවරිස්ට්ලා එද්දී ඉන්දියාව ඩොලර් හම්බකරනවා
ටිරාන් අලස්ටත් ගානක් ලැබුණා ද?
Mekata directly charge karanna one Tiran Alles ta
neda ?
eka ehema nam NPP Gov ekaka palaweni horu allima wenna one uwa,
parana nadu wage evidence expire wenna tharam kalyak mekata giye nathi handa.
neda ?
eka ehema nam NPP Gov ekaka palaweni horu allima wenna one uwa,
parana nadu wage evidence expire wenna tharam kalyak mekata giye nathi handa.
Are you a Sri Lankan? why do you need visa to come to Sri Lanka?
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