Motorway fraud: 22 cashiers are banned

According to the Road Development Authority (RDA), 22 cashiers at the Athurugiriya Interchange have been suspended from their services due to financial fraud amounting to millions of rupees.

According to media reports, RDA Director and General Engineer Priyantha Suriyabandara said the financial fraud took place at Athurugiriya Interchange on the Outer Circular Expressway.

On the instructions of the RDA Director General, the services of the cashiers at Athurugiriya Interchange were suspended by the Deputy Director General of RDA.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that the large-scale financial fraud was initially carried out by taking advantage of the electricity crisis in Sri Lanka in 2020.

Investigations revealed that the financial fraud was later continued by interrupting the power supply or by removing the power cable without authorization.

The cashiers are said to have turned off the power so that the surveillance cameras did not work and to have accepted money from motorists passing through the motorway junction, which they kept for themselves.

It was found that 22 of the 27 cashiers employed at Athurugiriya Interchange were involved in the said financial fraud.

Investigations have revealed that the ongoing CCTV camera malfunctions led to a financial fraud of nearly Rs 2 million in late January this year. (News agency)