A senior official, who revealed that the government was manipulating GDP growth data, is going to be sacked, reported LBO.
H.S. Wanasinghe, an accounts director at the Department of Census and Statistics, complained to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and an opposition MP that the government was manipulating data, and has now been found guilty of leaking confidential information.
"We have recommended to the PSC (Public Service Commission) to sack him and it will be done soon," Census and Statistics chief D.C.A. Gunawardena told reporters in Colombo.
Wanasinghe alleged that he was ordered to increase the GDP growth rate for the first quarter of 2013 to 6.0%, when his own calculations showed it was only 5.4%.
"What we see is a systematic approach of a cover up rather than an investigation into what he has revealed," Transparency International’s Sri Lanka chairman J.C. Weliamuna told AFP.
"Sacking a senior officer for raising this issue is completely unacceptable," he said, adding that Wanasinghe should be treated as a “whistle-blower”.