-By A Special Correspondent in Colombo
(Lanka-e-News -02.July.2025, 11.30 PM) At a time when Sri Lanka is fighting to restore public trust in state institutions, an audacious experiment is playing out quietly in the drawing rooms of Colombo’s diplomatic elite. It’s not a formal department. It has no constitutional authority. And yet, the Pathfinder Foundation—a think-tank founded by none other than Milinda Moragoda—is increasingly projecting itself as Sri Lanka’s de facto foreign policy engine room. The lines between diplomacy, private influence, and self-interest are blurring. And the question now gripping Colombo’s diplomatic and political circles is this: Who really runs Sri Lankan foreign policy?
The answer, at least from the Pathfinder Foundation’s own lips, would appear to be: “Us.”
But it’s a claim that has ignited controversy, dismay, and urgent calls for scrutiny—particularly because the man behind the curtain, Milinda Moragoda, is not remembered as a guardian of public accountability. On the contrary, he is a figure whose business legacy includes one of the country’s most infamous financial disasters: the collapse of Mercantile Credit.
To understand the unease surrounding Pathfinder’s rising influence, one must revisit the spectacular failure of Mercantile Credit Ltd.—a financial institution that defaulted after borrowing over Rs. 1 billion from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. At the centre of the storm was Milinda Moragoda, a one-time cabinet minister and political darling of Western diplomats. Mercantile’s failure devastated thousands of depositors and left Sri Lankan taxpayers footing the bill.
No full accountability ever came. No court ever held Moragoda liable. But in the eyes of many Sri Lankans, the episode tainted his public life. And yet, two decades later, he has resurfaced—not as a reformed businessman or penitent political elder, but as the head of a private think-tank that is now performing foreign policy.
What began as a policy research institute has turned into something far more ambitious: an unaccountable power hub that wields outsize influence over Sri Lanka’s international posture, particularly in relation to India and the Indian Ocean region.
Established in 2006, the Pathfinder Foundation describes itself as “an independent, non-partisan think-tank providing policy insights.” But insiders and veteran diplomats tell a different story. Over the past few years, Pathfinder has quietly assumed the trappings of a parallel foreign ministry. Its officials attend high-level diplomatic events. They host closed-door roundtables with foreign ambassadors. They publish white papers that are circulated—and sometimes even cited—by foreign policy officials. More troublingly, Pathfinder representatives have reportedly claimed to diplomats in Colombo that they are the “real voice” of Sri Lankan foreign policy.
“It’s a classic case of a shadow state,” says a retired ambassador with over three decades in the Sri Lankan Foreign Service. “Pathfinder is trying to usurp institutional authority without any mandate, public scrutiny, or accountability. That’s dangerous.”
Indeed, some Pathfinder events have been described as “alternative diplomatic briefings,” where foreign envoys are encouraged to view the think-tank’s positions as semi-official Sri Lankan policy. This has infuriated several career diplomats within the Foreign Ministry, who see the organisation as not just arrogant, but actively undermining the state’s institutional integrity.
In recent months, Pathfinder has taken an increasingly brazen approach to its “influence operations.” One high-level diplomat from a Western embassy, speaking off the record, said: “We were told by a Pathfinder official that they had a direct line to the President’s Office and that all foreign policy was being routed through them. It was bizarre—and frankly, inappropriate.”
Foreign ministry sources say these claims are completely false. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath have made no official link with the Pathfinder Foundation. In fact, several officials have privately expressed concern that Pathfinder is inflating its relevance to manipulate foreign governments and the public narrative.
One official remarked: “We’ve seen Pathfinder hijack press coverage, exaggerate access to foreign policy platforms, and misrepresent its influence to both local and international partners. This is not policy advocacy. It’s deception.”
An investigation by this newspaper has revealed that Pathfinder employs several retired civil servants and former diplomats—many of whom are used as a “face” to lend the organisation credibility. These individuals, while once respected public officials, now serve a private body whose ultimate accountability is to its founder and funders—not the Sri Lankan people.
Critics say this is a deliberate strategy: to create a façade of authority by parading former bureaucrats in front of diplomats and foreign donors, while using their presence to suggest continuity with official Sri Lankan foreign policy.
“It’s theatre,” said a senior academic familiar with the group’s inner workings. “They dress it up as expertise and institutional memory, but behind the curtain it’s all about Milinda Moragoda and his ambitions.”
Pathfinder’s operations have also raised eyebrows in New Delhi. The think-tank has aggressively courted Indian strategic thinkers and bureaucrats, hosting Indo-Lanka Track II dialogues and publishing glowing assessments of India’s Indo-Pacific strategy. At several bilateral events, Pathfinder officials have reportedly implied that they can broker messages directly to Sri Lanka’s leadership.
But here too, the Foreign Ministry is pushing back. “India is being misled if it believes Pathfinder speaks for the Government of Sri Lanka,” said one ministry official. “We have professional diplomats and formal channels. Pathfinder is not one of them.”
Sources in Delhi have begun to question the think-tank’s motivations. Is Pathfinder acting in good faith—or is it cultivating India’s strategic community to build leverage back in Colombo?
One of the most pressing questions now is: Who funds Pathfinder, and how are those funds used? The foundation has never publicly disclosed its complete list of donors or financial statements. While it has received support from foreign foundations and embassies, the lack of transparency has fuelled speculation that the organisation is being used to launder influence.
Given Milinda Moragoda’s chequered past and unresolved questions about the Rs. 1 billion default from Mercantile Credit, there is a growing call for a forensic audit into Pathfinder’s financial structure.
“The public deserves to know if this think-tank is clean,” says Niroshan Perera, an anti-corruption lawyer. “We are not talking about a book club. We are talking about an organisation claiming to influence foreign policy, perhaps even manipulating the national interest. It must be audited.”
With mounting pressure, civil society groups and members of Parliament are calling for urgent action. They are urging the Government, particularly President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Foreign Minister Herath, to:
Investigate Pathfinder’s financial records, including donor funding and how the money is spent.
Publicly clarify the boundaries between official foreign policy and think-tank engagement.
Conduct a review of all former civil servants employed by Pathfinder, and determine whether they are representing the state without legal basis.
Task CIABOC (Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption) and the Central Bank to reopen inquiries into Milinda Moragoda’s role in the Mercantile Credit collapse.
Introduce legislation to regulate foreign policy lobbying and ensure transparency in public-private partnerships in the diplomatic sphere.
At its core, this is a story about authority—who has it, who claims it, and who abuses it. Milinda Moragoda, a man with no elected mandate and a troubling financial legacy, is attempting to reposition himself as the intellectual compass of Sri Lankan diplomacy. His Pathfinder Foundation, meanwhile, has become a tool for private influence masquerading as public policy.
But in a democratic society, foreign policy must be shaped by accountable institutions—not vanity projects, not failed businessmen, and certainly not self-declared policy savants. If the Pathfinder Foundation wants to contribute to national discourse, it must do so transparently, lawfully, and with the humility it has long abandoned.
Until then, Sri Lanka must ask: Who appointed Milinda Moragoda to speak for us?
The answer: No one.
-By A Special Correspondent in Colombo
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by (2025-07-02 22:15:34)
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