Govt employees to be probed for evading income tax

Sandasen MARASINGHE

Measures will be taken to investigate the non payment of income tax amounting to Rs 2.3 billion by government servants in seven leading government institutions during the year 2010, said Human Resources Senior Minister D E W Gunasekera.

He made this observation at a workshop on Parliamentary Committees and Legislation conducted to benefit divisional secretaries and additional secretaries in the Western Province organised by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry in collaboration with the Parliament at the Parliamentary complex.

Senior Minister Gunasekera stated that COPE found workers of seven government institutions to have evaded to pay income tax in 2010 after signing agreements between the chairman and the trade union though there was a law to pay income tax by them. He added that those institutions were CEB, Port Authority, People's Bank, Bank of Ceylon, Water Board, Petroleum Corporation and National Savings Bank.

He said the minimum salary of those workers who avoided paying income tax was Rs 50,000.

Minister Gunasekera further said that six chairmen have been removed on the findings of the COPE report in 2010 which investigated accounts of 250 government institutions. He stated that measures will be taken to make a proposal to the Speaker to introduce amendments to the standing orders to take action against these chairmen who entered into agreements not to pay income tax and then to hand over these cases to the Criminal Investigation Department and the Bribery Commission.

Minister D E W Gunasekera said: “Steps have been taken to set up a separate committee by COPE to investigate into the accounts of the Local Governments and the Provincial Councils as the accounts of these institutions have not been monitored by the COPE committee for 10 years.”

He also stated that an enormous amount of money is allocated to these institutions by the present government to develop the village.