By Ruwan Weerakoon
(Lanka-e-News -11 Oct 2026,5.00 P.M.) The true scale of the fraud at NDB Bank is larger than the bank first admitted. The final audit report puts the loss at Rs. 13,639,664,684, or about Rs. 13.6 billion, according to Parliament's Committee on Public Finance.
The committee, chaired by Dr. Harsha de Silva, summoned Central Bank of Sri Lanka officials to examine the report and the lapses behind the fraud. Against NDB's first disclosure on 6 April 2026, the figure has risen by Rs. 0.4 billion, from Rs. 13.2 billion. Against the 26 June 2026 disclosure, which rested on an interim report dated 22 June, the final report adds a further Rs. 60 million.
What the audit found
The audit covers 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2026. Going by NDB's 29 September 2026 disclosure, the fraud's financial impact breaks down as follows:
Rs. 1.5 billion before 1 January 2025
Rs. 9.6 billion during 2025
Rs. 2.5 billion in the quarter ended 31 March 2026
The report confirms earlier statements that no customer accounts were affected.
The report identifies governance failures in how NDB processed CEFT transactions, how user-level activity in its Core Banking System was handled, and how user credentials and access information were managed. It also points to weaknesses in transaction monitoring, daily account reconciliation, financial compliance, internal audit, branch network management and operational risk management. It makes wide-ranging recommendations to tighten controls, governance structures and processes.
The committee examined findings from the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board (SLAAMB) and from the investigation by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP. Members asked why the external auditors failed to detect the irregularities in NDB's financial statements. They also pressed the question of senior management's accountability for corporate governance and risk management.
Public money is at stake. A significant share of NDB's shares is held by institutions representing public and state funds, and the committee weighed the possible impact on those funds and the wider public.
The committee reviewed LankaPay's progress on a centralised fraud monitoring system for the financial sector. Members also stressed that individual banks need stronger systems of their own to monitor transactions within their networks.
Deputy Ministers Chathuranga Abeysinghe, Dr. Kaushalya Ariyaratne and Nishantha Jayaweera attended, as did MPs Rauff Hakeem, Ravi Karunanayake, Ajith Agalakada, Nimal Palihena, Wijesiri Basnayake, M.K.M. Aslam, Champika Hettiarachchi and Lakmali Hemachandra.
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by (2026-10-11 10:59:32)
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