The Court of Appeal has issued an interim order suspending the former Cabinet’s decision to purchase 750,000 N-Series passports to resolve the shortage of passports in Sri Lanka, NewsFirst reported.
At its meeting held in September 2024, the former Cabinet approved the purchase of 750,000 N-Series passports from Thales DIS Finland OY and Just In Time Technologies (Pvt) Ltd as part of the initial procurement for the supply of five million e-Passports.
However, the decision was challenged by a writ petition filed by Epic Lanka (Pvt) Ltd and its Executive Chairman alleging that it is a corrupt deal that violates the tender procedure.
In its petition, Epic Lanka (Pvt) Ltd pointed out that the deal bypassed the National Procurement Guidelines, was outside of the proper procurement procedure, and that the National Procurement Commission has also acknowledged in writing that the procurement had irregularities.
The Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security, former Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles, the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration, the former Cabinet of Ministers and several others have been named as respondents.
Taking up for consideration the petition, Court of Appeal Justice Mohammed Laffar yesterday issued an interim order suspending the decision to purchase 750,000 N-Series passports, with the order effective until 01 October 2024. (Newswire)
