Two female officers from the Norwood Divisional Secretariat arrested for depositing ten million rupees of Aswesuma funds into relatives' accounts.

Two female officers who worked in the accounts division of the Norwood Divisional Secretariat have been arrested by the Hatton Divisional Special Crimes Investigation Unit in connection with a fraud exceeding one crore rupees, committed by misusing 'Aswesuma' welfare benefit funds provided to families facing economic difficulties. Senior Superintendent of Police Pradeep Weerasekera, in charge of the Hatton Division, stated that these two suspects, aged 30 and 33, have been carrying out this large-scale fraud since 2024 by crediting the allowances due to actual beneficiaries into the bank accounts of their relatives and acquaintances.

The Norwood Divisional Secretariat had been continuously receiving complaints regarding this Aswesuma allowance irregularity, and beneficiaries had also sent an anonymous letter to Nuwara Eliya District Secretary Ms. Thushari Tennakoon stating that they had not received the allowances due to them. Accordingly, an internal investigation was immediately launched under the instructions of the District Secretary. To avoid obstructing the investigation, one of the two suspected female officers was immediately transferred to the Ambagamuwa Divisional Secretariat, and the other officer was transferred to the Talawakelle Divisional Secretariat.

Subsequently, a special audit team consisting of ten officers from the audit division of the Nuwara Eliya District Secretariat and the audit division of the Ministry of Finance conducted an investigation. The preliminary audit revealed that the Aswesuma beneficiary funds for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025 had been irregularly credited to the accounts of the suspects' relatives and acquaintances. Based on these audit findings, Norwood Divisional Secretary Mr. Sameera Gamlath officially lodged a complaint with the Hatton Police Division's Special Investigation Unit.

Following a complaint received from the Divisional Secretariat, the Hatton Divisional Special Crimes Investigation Unit commenced investigations, arrested the two suspects, recorded their statements, and then produced them before the Hatton Magistrate's Court the day before yesterday. The court ordered the two suspects to be remanded for a period of two weeks. The police are conducting further investigations to determine if several other individuals are involved in this money fraud incident.