Lanka SC stays visa deal with VFS-Global

The Sri Lankan Supreme Court on Friday stayed the implementation of a cabinet decision to grant approval or online Visa Electronic Travel Authorization to three companies with an Indian link: VFS Global, a globally known company, and its two middlemen, GBS Technology Services and IVF Global.

- P.K.Balachandran

All three have the Indian Foreign Ministry's approval to collect documents for attestation and apostille.

The order was in response to petitions filed by several Sri Lankans, including M.A. Sumanthiran, Patali Champika and Rauff Hakeem, members of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Finance (COPF).

The COPF members said that the contract to VFS was in violation of the approved procurement processes and was contrary to IMF Governance Standards. It was a serious breach of national security and had data protection concerns. It had an adverse impact on tourism.

It involved middlemen giving rise to the possibility of money laundering.

Rauff Hakeem, one of the petitioners, told Daily Mirror of August 1, that there was no competitive bidding or consideration of alternative proposals.

And the cost to the traveller has been high.