The award ceremony organised by the COPA was held at the BMICH on Friday. Awards were presented to organisations that have excelled in their respective categories out of 838 State institutions examined by the COPA in 2017.

Among the highest performing State institutions, the Prime Minister’s Office has excelled obtaining 100 marks among 22 special spending units of the Government, while the Megapolis and the Western Development Ministry has topped the list from 48 ministries receiving 93 marks. The Department of Treasury Operations has obtained 100 marks among 93 State Departments, while the Gampaha District Secretariat has received 100 marks among 25 District Secretariats and the North-Central Provincial Council has obtained 92 marks among nine Provincial Councils.

COPA Chairman MP Lasantha Alagiyawanna told the media at the Parliamentary complex last week that the assessment program has been productive as 104 institutions that earned below 50 percent in 2015 have reduced to 11 institutions by 2017 and the number of institutions that earned over 90 percent in 2015 has increased to 139 institutions.

He said the computer network system used for assessing the Government institutions has enabled the Committee to provide a better service to the public. “The COPE and COPA usually conduct inquiries which are similar to a postmortem. We investigate only after a case of corruption has taken place, and sometimes these investigations take ages to complete,” he said.

Alagiyawanna said the State institutions are falling in line with standards set out by the Government and the Auditor General since the incumbent Government came into power and added that the COPA will consider expanding the categories considered for assessments in the next round.

Auditor General W.P.C. Wickremeratne said 92 percent of State institutions have submitted financial statements for 2018 to the Auditor General’s Department by June end. He said it can be considered as the best performance recorded in the history of financial efficiency of the Government bodies in Sri Lanka.

Wickremeratne said COPA’s investigations have influenced to improve the efficiency of the financial performance of Government bodies. There are about 2,000 Government bodies. Nearly 92 percent of Government institutions have submitted their financial statements to the Attorney General, he said.