Minister Premadasa said that the investigation was meant to identify those who had been responsible for waste, corruption as well as irregularities so that legal action could be taken against them.

The housing ministry and two institutions namely the Building Department and the government factory coming under the purview of that ministry would be investigated by Ernst & Young, sources said.

An official said that all institutions that had been under the then Minister Basil Rajapaksa would be probed by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Some of the worst irregularities had taken place in the Divineguma project handled by Basil Rajapaksa, an official said.,