The Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) has concluded its inquiry on the controversial VFS Global deal related to Sri Lanka’s new visa issuance process, which faced criticism from many in May.
Taking to ‘X’, CoPF Chairman Dr. Harsha de Silva said officials of the Public Security Ministry and Immigration were present at the CoPF meeting held in Parliament on Tuesday (June 04).
Dr. Harsha de Silva further said that the IVS-GBS VFS visa matter was concluded.
“Our report will be presented at the earliest. As I have maintained throughout I shall not discuss substantive issues until then,” he added.
In May this year, the newly introduced visa issuance system by global visa processing service, VFS Global and its charges were brought to the limelight after a local passenger had raised concerns over the process, with the video of the incident being widely circulated on social media.
In the video, an agitated Sri Lankan national claimed that Indian companies who had taken over visa processing at the Bandaranaike International Airport were causing delays and levying extra processing fees.
At the time, responding to the incident and allegations, the Indian High Commission refuted reports of Indian companies taking over visa issuance at the Katunayake Airport, stating, “Any reference to India in this context is unwarranted.”
Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles, under whose purview the visa process falls, also acknowledged in Parliament at the time that the decision to grant the process to global visa processing service, VFS Global was taken following Cabinet approval and that it was not processed through Parliament. (Newswire)