As enacted

Contents

6. Amendment of section 19 of the principal enactment

Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.

Section 19 of the principal enactment is hereby amended as follows:-

(1)

by the repeal of paragraph (a) of subsection (1)

thereof, and the substitution therefor, of the following paragraph:-

“(a) Unless otherwise specifically provided for in any other written law, the Auditor-General shall make his recommendation to impose a surcharge on the amount of any deficiency or loss in any transaction of an auditee entity where the

Auditor-General has reasonable grounds to believe that such transaction has been made contrary to any written law and has caused any deficiency or loss due to fraud, advertent negligence, corruption or misappropriation of those involved in that transaction of the auditee entity to the Surcharge Review Committee appointed under section 21.”;

(2)

by the repeal of subsection (2) thereof;

(3)

in subsection (3) thereof,-

(a)

by the substitution for the words “The Chief

Accounting Officer of the auditee entity shall, in charging the amount to be recovered, adopt the following procedure:-” of the words “The

Surcharge Review Committee shall adopt the following procedure in making its decision on the recommendation made by the Auditor-General:-”;

(b)

in paragraph (a) thereof, by the substitution for the words and figures commencing from

“subsections (1) and (2),” to the end of that paragraph, of the words and figure “subsection (1), within a period of twenty one days from the date of receipt of the Notice.”;

(c)

by the insertion immediately after paragraph (a) thereof, of the following new paragraph:-

“(aa) where necessary, call for further clarification or documents from the

Auditor-General with regard to his recommendation prior to making the decision;”;

(d)

in paragraph (c) thereof, by the substitution for the words “the Chief Accounting Officer of the auditee entity” of the words “the Surcharge

Review Committee”;

(e)

in paragraph (e) thereof, by the substitution for the words “the decision of the Chief

Accounting Officer of the auditee entity under paragraphs (b) and (c) shall be communicated forthwith to each person who is responsible for the deficiency or loss by issuing a Surcharge

Certificate,” of the words “the decision of the Surcharge Review Committee under paragraphs (b) and (c) shall be communicated forthwith to each person who is responsible for the deficiency or loss by issuing a Surcharge

Certificate through the Chief Accounting

Officer of such auditee entity,”;

(4)

by the insertion immediately after subsection (3)

thereof, of the following new subsections:-

“(3A)

Where the

Surcharge

Review

Committee decides to impose a surcharge on a

Chief Accounting Officer, the communication of its decision under subsection (3) shall be made through the Secretary to the Cabinet of Ministers issuing the Surcharge Certificate specifying the information specified therein.

(3B)

Where any person is dissatisfied by the decision of the Surcharge Review Committee, he may appeal to the Court of Appeal within thirty working days from the date of issue of the communication under paragraph (e) of subsection (3) or subsection (3A) of this section.

(3C)

The Order of the Court of Appeal shall be communicated by the Secretary to the Cabinet of

Ministers or the Chief Accounting Officer of the auditee entity, as the case may be, in writing to the

Surcharge Review Committee and the Auditor-General.”;

(5)

in subsection (4) thereof, by the substitution for the words “The Chief Accounting Officer of the auditee entity” of the words “The Secretary to the Cabinet of Ministers or the Chief Accounting Officer of such auditee entity, as the case may be,”;

(6)

by the addition immediately after subsection (4)

thereof, of the following new subsections:-

“(5) The

Surcharge

Review

Committee appointed under section 21 shall bi-annually publish in the website of the National Audit Office established under section 29, a report that includes the following information:-

(a)

the number of recommendations received from the Auditor-General under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) to impose a surcharge;

(b)

the number of recommendations reviewed by the Surcharge Review Committee, including a breakdown of the number of surcharges imposed, recommendations varied and decisions pending;

(c)

a statement of the surcharge imposed and actual surcharge collected for that reporting period, which the Surcharge

Review Committee shall obtain from the relevant Chief Accounting Officer or the

Secretary to the Cabinet of Ministers, as the case may be, which shall include the following:-

(i)

the auditee entities that have failed to collect such payment within the stipulated period, including details of any applicable interest as per paragraph (d) of subsection (3); and

(ii)

the number of recovery actions that have been initiated by the Surcharge

Review Committee as per subsection (1) of section 23.

(6)

Where the Secretary to the Cabinet of

Ministers or the Chief Accounting Officer of such auditee entity fails to recover the amount to be charged specified in the Surcharge Certificate within the time specified in subsection (4), the

Surcharge Review Committee shall report in respect of such failure to the Committee on Public

Accounts or the Committee on Public Enterprises, as the case may be.”; and

(7)

by the repeal of the marginal note to that section, and the substitution therefor of the following marginal note:-

“Imposition of a surcharge”.

Read on from s 7