Pasan Amarasena, the Fort Magistrate, today (06) ordered that an on-site inspection be carried out at the Department of Posts Sri Lanka in connection with an incident in which more than US$626,000, payable by the department to the United States Postal Service, had been credited to a third party.
The order was made after granting a request by the Criminal Investigation Department to permit the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team to conduct an on-site inspection at the Postal Department as part of ongoing investigations.
The CID informed the Fort Magistrate’s Court that the funds had been transferred to a third party on two occasions.
Presenting facts before court, investigating officers stated that the transfers had been carried out based on information received through three fraudulent emails.
These facts were revealed when CID officers first reported the matter to court in relation to an investigation into a foreign payment made by the Postal Department that had not reached the intended recipient.
The submissions were made before Magistrate Pasan Amarasena.
Investigators further informed court that an inquiry had been initiated after it was discovered that a payment made by the Postal Department to “US Post” — the United States Postal Service — had not been received by that institution.
They stated that, in the conduct of international postal operations, official email and account details for payments are provided by the Universal Postal Union, and that, in this instance, correspondence had taken place using an email address different from the one officially provided.
Accordingly, since June 2023, nine emails had been received from another source claiming that the payment due to the United States Postal Service had not been received, to three of which the Postal Department had responded.
The investigating officer told court that the Postal Department had, on two occasions—19 February 2025 and 16 October 2025—transferred a total of US$626,755 to a third party, comprising US$435,864 and US$190,891 respectively.
The Magistrate inquired whether the recipient of the funds had been identified, to which the investigating officer responded that no specific individual or party had yet been identified.
The Magistrate further questioned whether a criminal offence had been disclosed. In response, the investigating officer stated that offences appeared to have been committed under the Penal Code, the Computer Crimes Act, and the Public Property Act.
When asked whether any suspects had been identified, the officer replied that none had been identified thus far.
Having considered the submissions, Magistrate Pasan Amarasena authorised the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team to conduct an on-site inspection of the Postal Department’s email system, in line with the CID’s request.
The case is scheduled to be called again on 22 July.
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