Category: Daily Financial Times

I refer to the articles published in your esteemed paper. The blame has been disproportionately placed on the banking system, while the critical responsibilities of the Central Bank and Customs are being overlooked.

The current crisis surrounding suspicious telegraphic transfers (TTs) involving 14 Banks only one exposed so far publicly by the media should not be treated simply as a banking-sector failure. Most banks operate strictly within the regulations and supervisory framework established by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), with the objective of ensuring compliance and avoiding regulatory sanctions.

If the facts emerging are accurate, Sri Lanka is in fact confronting something far more serious: a systemic breakdown involving banks, Customs, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), regulators, and law-enforcement authorities. Also a total lack of real time coordination.

The central issue may not necessarily be that goods never entered the country. A more complex and plausible scenario is that legitimate companies imported goods through normal channels but declared values below their actual purchase prices, while the balance was settled through TT transfers. In such cases, the goods do enter Sri Lanka, but the declared import value is understated, potentially depriving the State of customs duties, taxes, and other revenue.

This distinction is critical. Before law enforcement draws conclusions based solely on TT transactions, it must establish whether those transfers can be reconciled with goods entering Sri Lanka through airports, courier services, postal channels, or other import routes.

At present, there appears to be no sufficiently integrated system to systematically reconcile banking transactions with customs declarations and the actual physical movement of goods. This creates a significant blind spot in the national financial oversight framework.

The issue is therefore not merely one of suspicious banking transactions. It is potentially a wider problem of trade-based financial crime, customs under-valuation, and systemic revenue leakage.

There is also a broader parallel with digital and over-the-top (OTT) services, where payments are often collected offshore while economic activity takes place within Sri Lanka. If the Inland Revenue Department has limited visibility over such transactions, the State can similarly lose significant revenue without any single institution necessarily appearing to be in breach.

The most important question is not simply who executed the transactions. It is how a system allowed potentially suspicious activity through the Havala network to continue for such an extended period-possibly 20 to 25 years-without effective intervention.

Failure of Customs

One particularly troubling issue is the reported long-term weakness of the Customs system, dating back to 2012.

If the system was dysfunctional or materially weakened for more than a decade, this raises fundamental questions about governance, oversight, and accountability.

Customs is a critical line of defence against trade-based financial crime. Import and export documentation, declared values, counterparties, and the physical movement of goods should collectively provide essential intelligence for identifying under-invoicing, fraudulent trade, and potential money laundering. Banks cannot be expected to perform the functions of Customs or FIU .

A bank only sees the information available to it: its customer, the account, the transaction, supporting documentation, and the customer’s stated purpose. It does not have direct visibility over whether the declared value of goods entering the country corresponds to their actual value unless that information is independently verified and made available through an effective Government system. This is precisely why the banking system must be connected to Customs and other relevant Government databases.

A failure of the FIU

Equally important is the role of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).Banks are required to submit Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) when transactions give rise to reasonable suspicion. However, filing an STR cannot be the end of the process. Should be the start for an investigation . The purpose of the FIU is to analyse financial intelligence, identify patterns, connect transactions across institutions, and where appropriate, refer matters to law enforcement while providing feedback and guidance to reporting institutions. Are they doing it? If STRs relating to these transactions were submitted, the obvious question is: What did the FIU do with that information? Has the FCID questioned the Director FIU?

If suspicious patterns were visible across multiple accounts, customers, or institutions, why were they not identified and acted upon earlier? Before it become 1 Billion USD? If the FIU did not receive STRs, then the question shifts to whether banks fully discharged their reporting obligations and whether the regulatory framework itself was effective. Banks do for fear of retribution. Either way, the complete chain of responsibility must be examined.

Banks have responsibilities-but they are not law enforcement

There is, of course, a legitimate question regarding the role of banks themselves.

Banks have a responsibility to conduct proper Know Your Customer (KYC), transaction monitoring, and enhanced due diligence. Commercial pressure to acquire customers or increase transaction volumes can never justify weakening these controls.

If bank employees deliberately bypassed controls, concealed information, or accepted bribes, they must face appropriate disciplinary and legal consequences. Individual misconduct cannot and should not be tolerated. However, it would be wrong to end the investigation there. Happily blame it on the Banks.

Regulators must also examine whether banks were adequately supervised, whether weaknesses in KYC and transaction monitoring were repeatedly identified, whether corrective action was mandated, and whether such action was actually implemented.

A regulatory framework is only as strong as its enforcement.

At the same time, banks cannot be expected to determine matters that are fundamentally outside their field of visibility. They cannot independently verify every overseas supplier, the true commercial value of every imported product, or whether goods declared to Customs actually entered the country through airports, courier services, or postal channels.

That requires an integrated Government information architecture.

The FCID and law enforcement need specialist expertise

Law-enforcement agencies investigating these transactions would also benefit from specialist expertise in banking, trade finance, Customs procedures, and transaction monitoring.

It is essential to understand how TT transactions actually function before drawing conclusions based solely on transaction volumes.

A large TT flow is not, by itself, evidence of money laundering or fraud. Investigators must establish the underlying economic activity: who paid whom, for what goods or services, at what declared value, through which channel the goods entered the country, and whether the banking transaction aligns with the underlying commercial transaction.

The investigation should therefore reconcile TT flows with Customs declarations, import documentation, courier and postal records, airport cargo data, and other relevant information.

Without such reconciliation, there is a real risk of mistaking a symptom for the underlying problem.

The entire regulatory chain must be examined

This crisis should therefore lead to a comprehensive review of the entire chain: Customs, banks, the FIU, CBSL, tax authorities, regulators, and law enforcement.

The authorities should establish:

When the weaknesses first became known;

Who was responsible for addressing them;

What warnings were received;

Whether STRs were filed;

What action followed;

Whether information was shared across agencies;

Whether Customs declarations were reconciled with banking transactions;

Whether under-invoicing or other forms of trade-based financial crime were identified

Why intervention did not occur earlier.

Sri Lanka cannot afford a narrow investigation focused only on individual transactions or individual low level bank employees.

If institutional weaknesses enabled suspicious transfers to continue for years, accountability must extend to the institutions responsible for preventing, detecting, and acting upon those weaknesses.

The objective should not be to protect any bank or individual, nor to shift blame between institutions.

The objective must be to establish the facts and fix the system.

Do not destroy confidence in the banking system

There is a further danger that must be recognised.

If every suspicious TT transaction is automatically treated as evidence of banking misconduct, without examining the underlying trade and regulatory failures, there is a real risk of undermining confidence in Sri Lanka’s banking system.

Banks are essential intermediaries in a modern economy. They are expected to facilitate legitimate business while complying with increasingly complex regulatory requirements. They must apply KYC and AML controls, but they cannot replace Customs, the FIU, the tax authorities, or law enforcement.

A sound financial system requires three elements: strong controls, effective supervision, and timely enforcement.

Where one of these fails, financial crime can flourish. Where several fail simultaneously, the consequences can be far more severe.

A turning point for Sri Lanka

The TT transfer crisis should therefore become a turning point.Sri Lanka needs an independent, end-to-end review of its trade, banking, customs, and financial intelligence architecture. The objective must be to identify precisely where the system broke down and why.The most important question is no longer simply:

‘Who did it?’

It is also:

‘Who should have detected it-and why didn’t they?’

Law enforcement must investigate wrongdoing wherever it exists. However, investigations must be grounded in a correct understanding of how banking, trade, and Customs systems actually operate.

If the authorities reduce the crisis to a banking failure alone, without examining its deeper structural causes, they risk punishing individual institutions while leaving systemic weaknesses untouched.

That would not resolve the problem.

It could instead damage confidence in the banking system while allowing the real vulnerabilities to persist. Sri Lanka now has an opportunity to learn from this crisis. The solution is not to weaken the banking system through indiscriminate blame, but to build an integrated framework in which banks, Customs, the FIU, tax authorities, regulators, and law enforcement can share information, identify risks, and act before problems escalate into crises.

The country needs accountability-but it also needs intelligent regulation, accountability from Government institutions like CBSL and Customs and institutional coordination, and a clear understanding of where the real failures occurred. It is now or never for Sri Lanka.

As the apex professional body representing the legal profession in Sri Lanka, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) represents over 26,000 legal professionals across 93 regional branches, across the country. In keeping with its commitment to continuous professional development, BASL began an Online Certificate Course in Human Resource Management yesterday.

The course will be conducted every Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. over a period of 12 weeks and is open to BASL members, non-members, legal apprentices, and law students.

BASL President Rajeev Amarasuriya, stated that the certificate course recognises the increasingly important role that Attorneys-at-Law play in the field of Human Resource Management. He noted that many senior human resource professionals are themselves Attorneys-at-Law, reflecting the strong career opportunities available to legal professionals in the HR and employment sphere. The programme is therefore designed to equip participants with both the legal knowledge and practical understanding required to effectively navigate contemporary workplace and employment-related matters, while highlighting Human Resource Management and Employment Law as an important area of professional development and career advancement for Attorneys-at-Law.

The sessions will be conducted by a distinguished panel of legal experts and senior practitioners, including Geoffrey Alagaratnam, PC, Uditha Egalahewa, PC, Mohamed Adamaly, PC, Association of HR Professionals Sri Lanka President Thushara Jayawardana, AAL, Manoli Jinadasa, AAL, EFC Former Director General / Chief Executive Officer Kanishka Weerasinghe, AAL, Hayleys Group Group Head – HR and Legal Darshi Talpahewa, AAL.

The Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) has exposed a series of unresolved technical and implementation roadblocks in the Inland Revenue Department’s (IRD) planned digital point-of-sale (POS) and real-time Value Added Tax (VAT) invoicing system, with officials acknowledging that full onboarding is expected to take two years despite the Government’s push to accelerate tax digitalisation.

The scrutiny revealed that key elements required for an islandwide rollout, including final software and hardware requirements, compatible devices, integration with existing business systems, engagement with POS service providers, security safeguards and arrangements for smaller businesses, remain under development or discussion.

The IRD told the CoPF, Chaired by Rauff Hakeem as stand-in, that it could issue the required Gazette notification only after receiving the POS specifications covering software and hardware requirements from the Digital Economy Ministry. Once the Gazette is issued, VAT-registered taxpayers would have three months to comply, including obtaining the required POS facility and issuing invoices through it.

However, during detailed questioning, CoPF members challenged whether the underlying system was sufficiently advanced for that statutory timetable to translate into practical implementation.

A representative involved in the digital work told the Committee that requirements were still needed from the Finance Ministry and revenue authorities before software requirements could be settled and devices matching the required technology and price parameters identified.

MP Ravi Karunanayake argued that a process still at the basic stakeholder and requirements stage could take two years to implement.

The IRD subsequently outlined its current approach, under which it is working with the Digital Economy Ministry and GovTech and beginning implementation at a minimum level before moving towards a full e-invoicing system. An IRD official said the Department expected to onboard all taxpayers over a two-year period.

The exchange highlighted a distinction between the pilots already under way and the considerably broader system envisaged by CoPF: real-time electronic capture of VAT transactions across the tax base, including wholesale and retail businesses.

According to figures presented to the Committee, Sri Lanka had 36,656 registered VAT taxpayers as at 30 June 2026, excluding 371 taxpayers registered for VAT on financial services. The IRD also put the number of registered corporate taxpayers at 139,000.

The CoPF questioned why digitalisation was proceeding through a relatively small number of entities rather than using the existing VAT-registered population as the starting base.

The IRD said 15 apparel-sector companies and five tea exporters had been onboarded, while 380 tea-producing entities were connected through tea brokers. Work was in progress to onboard five wholesale and retail companies, 27 other export-oriented companies and 170 other VAT-registered companies.

Committee members drew particular attention to the wholesale and retail sector, arguing that manufacturers and exporters were already comparatively visible to the tax administration, while a larger revenue gap could lie further down the transaction chain.

The CoPF also questioned whether simply requiring a POS machine would achieve the intended objective unless every device could be securely identified, tied to a location and connected to the IRD for real-time transmission.

Karunanayake said the objective should be an online VAT system rather than a POS arrangement that still allowed taxpayers discretion over which transactions were entered. He cited information before the Committee that Colombo had about 2,400 restaurants but only 125 paying VAT, arguing that the tax administration needed to broaden the base rather than concentrate enforcement on taxpayers already within the system.

The IRD said its ultimate objective was real-time invoice-data collection and that minimum standards would have to apply across businesses using different systems, ranging from enterprise resource planning systems to taxpayers still issuing invoices manually.

Officials said the Department had already piloted application programming interface (API) integration to enable businesses to transmit invoice records directly to the IRD system in real time. The initial work involved exporters, including apparel companies and tea-sector businesses, before expansion towards retail.

But the CoPF repeatedly pressed officials on how the system would deal with the less sophisticated segment of the economy, including businesses without established ERP systems, reliable connectivity or the technical capacity of larger companies.

The Committee also raised the need for offline transaction recording during electricity or connectivity failures, with officials indicating that offline invoice-recording capability would form part of the minimum device specifications.

Another unresolved issue was the ecosystem of private POS and software providers that would ultimately have to connect businesses to the IRD.

CoPF members urged the authorities to begin consultations with service providers early, warning that they could otherwise become an implementation bottleneck. They noted that businesses already use numerous POS, accounting and inventory systems and that providers would need sufficient time to adapt their products to IRD requirements.

Officials said GovTech would handle stakeholder consultation and that authorities had also consulted taxpayers and industry representatives.

The Digital Economy Ministry side also pointed to security and load-testing requirements for an island-wide rollout. Officials said the legitimacy of devices, attempts to circumvent registration and cyber-security risks would have to be addressed, including through the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (SLCERT). The existing IRD system would also require updating.

The CoPF additionally highlighted the cost burden on smaller businesses that may have to purchase equipment or upgrade their systems. The IRD said concessions were still being discussed, including possible tax treatment for the acquisition of equipment, but no final incentive structure was presented to the Committee.

The Committee urged the authorities to consult small retailers and their associations rather than limiting engagement to larger taxpayers, noting that compliance costs could have a disproportionate impact on smaller enterprises.

The CoPF also called for the eventual system to be ‘faceless,’ arguing that reducing discretionary human intervention was essential both for revenue collection and to limit leakage.

The Committee also stressed the need for a public awareness program before mandatory implementation, particularly because businesses would have to invest in equipment and alter invoicing practices.

Hemas Holdings is setting its sights on Bangladesh as its next overseas growth market, following its recent entry into Kenya, as the Sri Lankan conglomerate seeks to build a wider emerging-markets footprint in consumer businesses.

Hemas Holdings PLC Group CEO Ashish Chandra said Bangladesh offered a similar investment proposition to Kenya-a large population, sustained economic growth, and rising consumer aspirations-with the group taking a five to 10-year view rather than pursuing short-term returns.

‘The logic is similar to what we saw in Kenya. Bangladesh is a large and growing market, and we take a long-term view whenever we enter a country,’ he told the Daily FT.

At present, Hemas’ flagship hair care brand Kumarika and personal care product Eva.

Chandra said Bangladesh’s lower per-capita income of around $ 2,500-$ 2,600 was less significant to the investment case than its strong growth trajectory.

‘We continue to believe in the long-term potential of Bangladesh. We believe that as incomes rise, consumer spending and demand for personal care products will also increase,’ he said.

Beauty and men’s grooming could therefore provide an initial foothold in Bangladesh, with the group positioning itself away from the highly competitive mass market and towards higher-value consumer segments.

The Bangladesh push comes as Hemas deepens its internationalisation strategy following its acquisition of a 75% stake in Kenyan stationery manufacturer Twiga Stationers and Printers for $ 16.2 million.

The Kenya transaction marked a significant step beyond Hemas’ traditional Sri Lankan base, while Bangladesh would extend the group’s emerging-market strategy into South Asia’s second-largest economy.

The group has also earmarked around $ 100 million for new investments, both locally and internationally.

Chandra said the group’s approach was not to treat overseas investments as one-year propositions, but to build businesses capable of developing over five and 10-year horizons.

Hemas Holdings ventured into Bangladesh in 2011, launching its fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and personal care business by setting up operations and manufacturing/distribution capabilities in the country.

As per the performance review for the 12 months ended 31 March 2026, it noted that the Value-Added Hair Oil industry in Bangladesh recorded a value growth of 3.9% year-to-date as of December 2025, although volumes declined over the same period.

Home and personal care in Bangladesh delivered revenue growth of 11% YoY in 4Q and 13% for the full year FY26. Earnings recorded an exceptional increase of over 140% YoY in FY26, although 4Q earnings declined YoY due to higher promotional activity during the period, but within budgeted expectations. Margins expanded, driven by an improved sales mix favouring higher-margin products, complemented by effective cost price controls.

Hemas Holdings PLC Executive Director Sabrina Esufally said the sheer scale of Bangladesh’s market was a major attraction, with a population of around 180 million providing a substantial consumer base despite economic and political challenges.

‘If you have a young population with aspirations, people continue to spend on products that improve their lives,’ she said.

Esufally pointed out that Hemas’ experience navigating Sri Lanka’s own periods of economic and political volatility could give it an advantage in other emerging markets.

‘Volatile economies do not necessarily scare us,’ she said, noting that the group had continued to generate returns even during difficult economic periods because underlying consumer needs and aspirations remained intact.

For Hemas, the strategy increasingly appears to be less about replicating its Sri Lankan business in individual countries and more about identifying consumer categories where rising incomes, population growth, and changing lifestyles can support sustained demand.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake came to power promising a break with a political establishment discredited by economic collapse, corruption and public anger over the way power had been exercised. His anti-corruption message was central to his 2024 presidential campaign, and voters subsequently handed his National People’s Power coalition an extraordinary 159 of Parliament’s 225 seats. It was a mandate not merely to replace the people governing Sri Lanka, but to change the political habits by which it had been governed.

That is why his Government’s latest constitutional proposal is so troubling.

On 7 August, the Government gazetted the Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution, which would raise the mandatory retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 67 and Court of Appeal judges from 63 to 65. The bill would also require the chief justice to retire at 67 or after six years as chief justice, whichever comes first, and increase the maximum number of other Court of Appeal judges from 19 to 24. The four-section bill replaces the existing retirement-age provision without creating a transitional exemption for judges already serving. It therefore stands to change not merely the terms on which future judges enter office, but the tenure of identifiable judges already sitting on Sri Lanka’s highest courts.

There is nothing inherently improper about a Supreme Court judge serving until 67. Many countries permit judges to remain in office considerably longer, and there is a respectable argument that Sri Lanka should retain experienced jurists rather than lose them at comparatively young retirement ages. Reducing the controversy to a debate about whether 65 or 67 is the better number, however, misses the constitutional problem. The real question is whether politicians should be able to change how long judges already in office remain there, when those judges exercise the power to review the legality and constitutionality of actions taken by the political branches themselves.

The Government has offered a defence that deserves to be taken seriously. Dissanayake has said the change is not intended to benefit any individual or group and has placed it within a broader program to improve the administration of justice. The Government is also seeking to expand judicial capacity and strengthen institutions including the Attorney General’s Department, police, anti-corruption machinery and Government Analyst’s Department. Sri Lanka’s Bar Association, after meeting the president this week, said it did not object in principle either to increasing the number of judges or to reconsidering retirement ages, but urged broader expert consultation before such a change is made.

The problem is that good intentions are not a constitutional safeguard.

Judicial independence

Judicial independence is usually understood as protection against punishment. Governments must not dismiss judges because they dislike their decisions, threaten their livelihoods or manipulate their conditions of service to secure favourable judgments. But independence has another side that receives less attention: judges must also be insulated from political favour. If politicians should not be able to shorten the career of a judge they want removed, there should be equal caution when politicians acquire the capacity to lengthen the careers of judges already in office.

This is not an allegation that Dissanayake is attempting to purchase judicial loyalty. There is no publicly established evidence of such a bargain, and alleging one would distract from the more important institutional question. Constitutions do not exist because Governments can always be trusted to use power honourably; they exist because eventually a Government may not. The relevant test is therefore not whether Sri Lankans believe this President has benign motives. It is whether Sri Lanka should establish a precedent under which any president backed by a sufficiently large parliamentary majority can change the tenure of judges already responsible for checking political power.

Warning by United Nations Special Rapporteur

That concern has now travelled far beyond Sri Lanka’s domestic political debate. On 7 August, Margaret Satterthwaite, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, sent the Sri Lankan Government a formal communication warning that the proposed amendment could raise concerns under international standards protecting judicial independence and the right to a fair trial. Most significantly, she focused on the proposal’s effect on sitting judges rather than future appointments, describing judicial tenure as a core safeguard of independence and referring to international standards requiring security of tenure until a predetermined retirement age or expiry of office.

Satterthwaite’s warning goes directly to the weakness in the Government’s case. She noted that the Venice Commission has repeatedly cautioned against changes to retirement ages or judicial terms that apply retrospectively to serving judges without appropriate transitional arrangements. While acknowledging that retaining judicial expertise can justify increasing a retirement age, she warned that reforms affecting tenure require particularly robust safeguards precisely because courts constrain executive and legislative power. The absence of transitional protections, she argued, risks making a generally worded reform appear to alter the immediate composition of the judiciary for institutional purposes rather than establish a neutral rule for the future.

There is an additional difficulty that should alarm the Government. The Special Rapporteur observed that judges who stand to benefit from the extension could conceivably be required to determine the constitutionality of the amendment itself. That situation would not automatically establish actual bias. But the absence of mechanisms to address the potential conflict, she warned, could undermine confidence in the appearance of judicial impartiality. She therefore asked Sri Lanka to explain why the higher retirement age should apply to currently serving judges rather than only future appointees, what consultations had been undertaken, and what safeguards would prevent actual or perceived political interference.

The UN is not alone. The Commonwealth Lawyers Association warned in June that constitutional amendments affecting judicial tenure should not be made in a piecemeal or ad hoc fashion and should be preceded by proper public and stakeholder consultation. LAWASIA subsequently endorsed those concerns, arguing that the proposal had the appearance of an ad hoc initiative without adequate consultation and could undermine public confidence in judicial independence. The International Association of Judges has likewise stressed that its concern is not with changing retirement ages as a general policy, but with the timing, manner and perceived purpose of Sri Lanka’s proposal.

International examples

That distinction is crucial because international experience demonstrates that increasing a judicial retirement age is not inherently an attack on democracy. Britain raised the mandatory retirement age for many judicial office-holders from 70 to 75. But the British Government first conducted a formal consultation lasting three months and received 1,004 responses from judges, magistrates, lawyers and other stakeholders. Its review explicitly considered the competing consequences of a higher retirement age: retaining expertise and increasing judicial resources on one hand, while potentially slowing the flow of new appointments and affecting the composition and diversity of the judiciary on the other. The reform proceeded after that debate, not before it.

Australia offers an even clearer lesson about tenure. Until 1977, federal judges were appointed for life. Australians then approved a constitutional amendment establishing compulsory retirement at 70, but the alteration did not disturb judges who had been appointed under the previous tenure arrangements. Australian parliamentary records make clear that judges appointed before the constitutional change retained their existing position while the new retirement rule governed subsequent appointments. The direction of the reform was opposite to Sri Lanka’s, but the constitutional principle is instructive: Governments can change the rules governing the judiciary without rewriting the tenure attached to appointments already made.

Zimbabwe provides the cautionary example. In 2021, constitutional changes allowed senior judges to remain in office beyond the previous retirement age of 70, and President Emmerson Mnangagwa extended Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s tenure as he reached the old limit. Litigation followed and the controversy became inseparable from a larger argument about executive influence over the judiciary. Sri Lanka is not Zimbabwe, and equating the two Governments would be both inaccurate and intellectually lazy. The relevant lesson is narrower: when a constitutional amendment produces an immediate extension of tenure for identifiable senior judges, suspicion about who benefits can overwhelm whatever institutional rationale the Government originally offered.

For a judiciary, that suspicion is not a trivial public-relations problem. Courts ultimately rely upon citizens believing that judges approach disputes without political obligation. Consider the entirely avoidable position Sri Lanka could create: a citizen challenges an important act of the Government before judges whose retirement dates were extended because that same Government initiated a constitutional amendment and its parliamentary majority enacted it. The judges could be completely independent. Their reasoning could be impeccable. Nothing about receiving the benefit of a generally worded law proves gratitude or bias. Yet constitutional design should try to eliminate such doubts, not manufacture them and then insist that the public disregard them.

Enormous court backlog

Nor does Sri Lanka’s enormous court backlog resolve the problem. The Government is right that judicial delay is serious and that retaining experienced judges may have some administrative value. But its own reform program demonstrates that congestion is a system-wide problem involving judicial numbers, prosecution, policing, forensic capacity, administration and infrastructure. Expanding courts, filling vacancies and improving those institutions attack capacity constraints directly. Extending the retirement dates of the people already occupying senior judicial office is a much blunter intervention, while also slowing the vacancies and promotions through which judicial institutions renew themselves. Britain’s own retirement-age review openly acknowledged the trade-off between retaining experienced judges and maintaining a steady flow of new appointments.

Sri Lanka therefore faces a false choice if this debate is presented as one between retaining judicial expertise and preserving judicial independence. It can do both. If 65 and 63 are no longer appropriate retirement ages, the Government can demonstrate that with evidence, consult the judiciary, the Bar, legal scholars and civil society, examine the effects on succession and court capacity, and establish a higher retirement age through a carefully designed reform. It can then adopt transitional provisions that prevent the change from appearing to be additional tenure bestowed by the political branches upon judges already in office. That is essentially what the UN Special Rapporteur has asked Colombo to explain.

Larger political question

For Dissanayake, however, there is a larger political question. His Government does not lack the parliamentary strength to force through ambitious reforms. The NPP controls 159 seats, comfortably more than two-thirds of Parliament. That makes self-restraint more important, not less. Governments with fragile majorities are constrained by arithmetic; Governments with overwhelming majorities must sometimes impose constraints upon themselves.

Sri Lanka should understand that danger better than most countries. Its modern political history has repeatedly involved constitutional rules being remodelled as Governments alternately strengthened and restrained the presidency, altered checks on political appointments and redesigned the relationship between elected power and independent institutions. The present Constitutional Council itself exists under the Twenty-First Amendment and plays a role in approving presidential recommendations for appointments including the chief justice, Supreme Court judges and Court of Appeal judges. A movement elected on the promise of changing Sri Lanka’s political culture should therefore be exceptionally wary of repeating one of that culture’s oldest habits: treating constitutional architecture as something that can be adjusted whenever the Government of the day believes its immediate objective is sufficiently worthy.

That is what makes this more than an argument about two additional years of judicial service. Democratic erosion does not always begin with a president ordering a judge from the bench or openly declaring war on the courts. Institutional boundaries can also weaken through technical measures, respectable administrative explanations and constitutional amendments whose proponents insist that nothing sinister is intended. The appropriate response is not to assume sinister intent. It is to design institutions so that intent matters as little as possible.

Dissanayake’s Government can still do that. It can raise Sri Lanka’s judicial retirement age after a transparent review. It can expand the courts, modernise case management, strengthen prosecution and forensic services and tackle the delays that deny Sri Lankans timely justice. What it should not establish casually is the principle that political majorities may alter how long judges already sitting in judgment over the state remain in office.

The issue is not whether a judge becomes incapable of delivering justice on his or her sixty-fifth birthday. Clearly, that is not the case. The issue is who gets to change the terms of judicial tenure after the judge has taken office, what safeguards govern that power and whether the change leaves citizens with reason to wonder about the relationship between those who govern and those who judge them.

Judicial independence requires judges to know that politicians cannot end their careers because they dislike their decisions. A democracy should be equally careful to ensure that sitting judges never have reason to owe additional years on the bench to those same politicians.

LK Domain Registry marked 16 years of the BestWeb.LK Awards, Sri Lanka’s national web competition and the benchmark for digital excellence, at a grand award ceremony held at the Monarch Imperial recently.

The event was graced by the presence of the Chief Guest Secretary to the Prime Minister Pradeep Saputhanthri who presented the Gold, Silver and Bronze awards for Best Overall Websites, while several distinguished guests were also present at the occasion. LK Domain Registry was represented by Chairman Indika De Zoysa and Director, CEO and Domain Registrar Prof. Gihan Dias, together with several other members of the organisation.

During the event, a total of 106 awards were presented across 24 categories, recognising outstanding achievements in Sri Lanka’s digital landscape. The Overall Gold Award was won by homelandsskyline.lk, while parliament.lk was presented with the Overall Silver, and jatholdings.lk received the Overall Bronze. In recognition of their outstanding talent in web development, 3CS was awarded Best Web Developer – Gold, followed by Web Lankan (Pvt) Ltd. with Silver, and Shanika Rajapaksha with Bronze.

Secretary to the Prime Minister Pradeep Saputhanthri said: ‘Today, a nation’s digital presence often shapes its reputations long before its people have the opportunity to do so. Consider how many important decision we now make before ever speaking to a person. Many of our first interactions now happen through a screen. Every well-designed website contributes not only to an organisation’s reputation but to also how Sri Lanka is experienced by the world. Digital quality is no longer simply a technical matter. It’s an economic advantage, a competitive strength and increasingly a national imperative.’

LK Domain Registry CEO and Domain Registrar Prof. Gihan Dias added: ‘Over 16 years ago, we felt it was important to have something which recognises who we are on the Internet and also we wanted to recognise those companies or individuals who have come up with excellent websites which are useful, informative and very easy to use. So we came up with this idea of BestWeb.LK Awards. We have been very fortunate to get an experienced panel of judges who have been with us for a long time. Today, we also use a lot of software and a bit of AI to look at your websites and see whether it meets the required standard to be a winner.’

Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo is set to celebrate the rich culinary heritage of Southeast Asia with its ASEAN Food Festival, taking place from 21 to 23 August 2026 at the hotel’s Pool Terrace.

Held in celebration of ASEAN Day, the three-night culinary experience is presented in partnership with the Embassies of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam, bringing together the distinctive flavours and culinary traditions of five Southeast Asian nations.

Guests will have the opportunity to explore an authentic selection of Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian, Myanmar and Vietnamese cuisine, expertly prepared by international chefs. Carefully sourced ingredients from Sri Lanka and the respective participating countries will be used to preserve the authenticity and distinctive regional flavours of each cuisine.

The festival will showcase a variety of signature dishes synonymous with Southeast Asian gastronomy. From Thailand, guests can look forward to favourites such as Tom Yum and Phad Thai, while Malaysian cuisine will be represented through dishes including Nasi Lemak and Chicken Rendang. Indonesian specialities will include Nasi Goreng and Es Buah, a refreshing Indonesian fruit dessert.

The culinary journey continues with flavours from Myanmar, including Mohinga, the country’s much-loved fish noodle soup, alongside Nat Thote Dar, Braised Mutton Curry and Cucumber Salad. Vietnamese favourites such as the aromatic Pho and fresh spring rolls will complete the diverse selection, alongside many more dishes representing the region.

Set against the relaxed ambience of the Pool Terrace, the ASEAN Food Festival offers diners an opportunity to discover the diversity of Southeast Asian cuisine in one destination, while celebrating the cultural connections and culinary traditions shared across the ASEAN region.

The ASEAN Food Festival will be held from 21 to 23 August 2026, from 7 p.m. onwards, at the Pool Terrace, Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo. Dinner is priced at Rs. 8,000 nett per person.

Over 20 Sri Lankan artists responded to climate change through their creative practices, perspectives, and own experiences at ‘Communicating Climate Change: An Artistic Perspective,’ held from 14-16 August at Art Rhizome in Colombo.

Organised by ClimaComms, EthicalX: Climate and Innovation Hub, divertico, and c.fuge, the exhibition explored the realities, challenges, and possibilities of climate change through original artworks, as well as opportunities for engagement through thematic discussions, live art, and networking sessions.

Climate change affects many aspects of everyday life, from food systems, health, and livelihoods to migration, oceans, and the ways people produce, consume, and live. In addition to scientific evidence, research, and policy discussions, effective communication plays a key role in creating change and finding effective solutions to the climate crisis.

As an effort of a collective of different stakeholders, the exhibition explored the role of art and fashion for better communicating climate change, as well as changing lifestyles. It featured themes of climate resilience, health, adaptation, migration, food systems, oceans, and loss and damage.

Clima Trust Research and Knowledge Management Director Dennis Mombauer said: ‘The idea was to create a space for conversation around how art and climate communication come together. Art can help unlock aspects that are difficult to unlock through science and policy briefs alone, by looking at the emotional side of climate change and the different ways it impacts people.’ The exhibition further focused on how fashion could play a key role in communicating climate change.

‘Climate change is common to all, but solutions could be approached individually as well as collectively. Art that shares a key message could link with creative expression of fashion to promote a stronger message through our daily lifestyle choices, such as clothes,’ said c.fuge representative Vositha Wijenayake, an ethical and climate-friendly brand co-hosting the event.

The theme of loss, as well as mental health was a core theme present in many works featured at the exhibition. One of the artists, Prabath Samarasooriya, explored the emotional response to ecological loss and changing landscapes in his art.

‘I want people to connect with the landscapes and nature represented in my work through their own memories and experiences. There is a sense of nostalgia and melancholy in seeing familiar environments being changed or lost through human activity. Through colours, textures, and distorted natural forms, I also explore eco-anxiety and the emotional impact that ecological collapse and climate change can have on us,’ he said.

The connection between climate change and mental health was also reflected in the work of artist Sakunthala Peiris.

‘My art often reflects mental health and mental health awareness, and this exhibition gave me an opportunity to explore that in the context of climate change. We often think about climate change in terms of what is happening to the environment, but its impacts are also experienced by individuals and communities,’ she said.

The exhibition opened on 14 August with an evening reception attended by participating artists and guests from the creative, climate, development, and other sectors. The programme also included dialogues and networking sessions. The first thematic dialogue held on 25 August focused on climate, fashion and mindful living.

The second dialogue and networking event held 16 August featured engagement on climate, food systems, livelihoods and resilience.

These dialogues highlighted the need to communicate climate change in different ways to different audiences, and the role that art and creative expression can play in starting conversations around complex climate-related issues. The discussions also looked at how climate communication can connect climate change with people’s everyday experiences and choices, including what they wear, what they eat, and how they consume.

The exhibition forms the first step of engagement in exploring the links between climate, art and fashion, as it expands to further activities on engagement with the creative and artistic community to identify effective ways for reaching audiences and driving climate solutions.

The Daily FT, Sunday Times and Daily Mirror were the exclusive print media partners for the exhibition.

Veteran Sri Lankan singer Visharada Nanda Malini has passed away, bringing to a close a celebrated career that made her one of the country’s most recognised musical voices.

In a special statement, the Government has declared a three-day National mourning from 21 to 23 August as a mark of respect.

Her final rites will be held tomorrow (22), at the Borella General Cemetery.

Her remains will lie at her residence on Wijayaba Mawatha, Nawala, from 10 a.m. today for the public to pay their final respects.

Religious observances will be held at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, after which the funeral procession will leave for the Borella General Cemetery.

The family had decided, in keeping with Nanda Malini’s final wishes, to hold the final rites at 5 p.m. at the Borella General Cemetery without an official or special State funeral ceremony.

In a special statement, the Government has declared a three-day National mourning from 21 to 23 August as a mark of respect.

Her final rites will be held tomorrow (22), at the Borella General Cemetery.

Her remains will lie at her residence on Wijayaba Mawatha, Nawala, from 10 a.m. today for the public to pay their final respects.

Religious observances will be held at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, after which the funeral procession will leave for the Borella General Cemetery.

The family had decided, in keeping with Nanda Malini’s final wishes, to hold the final rites at 5 p.m. at the Borella General Cemetery without an official or special State funeral ceremony.

Uncapped Kamil Mishara and Sahan Arachchige from NCC have been included in Sri Lanka’s squad of 14 for the second Test against India starting at the SSC grounds on Sunday.

Mishara is likely to open the batting with another NCC team mate Lahiru Udara, while Arachchige may be the standby batsman in the squad with Pasindu Sooriyabandara expected to bat at number three in place of injured Dinesh Chandimal.

Sooriyabandara had a rather unfortunate entry into Test cricket when he was asked to bat in the second innings of the first Test at Galle coming in as concussion sub to Chandimal and was dismissed for a golden duck.

Mishara is expected to replace Nishan Madushka who has been out of sorts as a Test opener. Madushka’s contributions with the bat in his last six Test innings – 23, 2, 6, 20, 0 and 6 has forced the selectors’ hand to look for another opener. With Pathum Nissanka still unavailable for selection after undergoing surgery in his right wrist, Madushka who has previously opened for Sri Lanka in Tests was expected to fill that role. But unfortunately he has not been able to fulfil the task.

Mishara is primarily a white ball player especially in the T20 format and has been having an outstanding season. He celebrated his inclusion in the Test squad with a thundering knock of 145* off 72 balls for NCC in their Major Club T20 match against Bloomfield yesterday. That innings was an extension of the form he displayed for Jaffna Kings in the Lanka Premier League where he accumulated 411 runs (avg. 51.37) at a strike rate of 165.

A free flowing left-hand batsman Mishara will have to curb his natural instincts when he buckles down to play Test cricket. He could take a leaf out of India’s Devdut Padikkal who transformed himself from a successful IPL cricketer to a Test batsman with scores of 167 and 44 in the Galle Test laying the foundation for India’s 165-run victory.

Mishara and Arachchige have represented Sri Lanka in both white ball formats (ODI and T20I).

Earlier, wicket-keeper/batsman Kusal Mendis was ruled out of the series following a hamstring injury he suffered during the LPL.

Ramesh Mendis and Dilshan Madushanka who were released from the squad of 16 named for the first Test to play in the ongoing domestic matches have not been retained in the 14 picked for the second Test. The rest of the squad remains unchanged.

Probable Squad: Lahiru Udara, Kamil Mishara, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (Captain), Sonal Dinusha, Sahan Arachchige, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Milan Rathnayake, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Prabath Jayasuriya, Keshara Nuwantha.