NGO secretariat probes financial irregularities

Nadira Gunatilleke

Investigations are carried out in connection with alleged financial irregularities in several NGOs. National Secretariat for Non Governmental Organizations Director Douglas Nanayakkara told the Daily News yesterday.

All the pending cases are against National level NGOs. Besides there are investigations on complaints against foreign personnel working in NGOs.

According to Nanayakkara there were only 850 NGOs in Sri Lanka before the 2004 tsunami but after the tsunami this number has gone up to 1,150.

Today there are 1,307 NGOs operating in the country and 357 of them are foreign NGOs while 950 of then are local NGOs. Apart from this number there are around 20,000 district and divisional level NGOs which call themselves community based organizations.

The existing legal provisions are not adequate to govern the NGOs because the law is outdated and it fits only the environment and system that existed in the 80s, he added.