The Government immediately halted operations of the Information and Communication technology Agency (ICTA) in relation to the National Payment Platform (NPP) on August 11.
This was after it realised ICTA had misled the government, National Policies and Economic Affairs Deputy Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva said in Parliament yesterday.
He said the government also obtained the investigation report on Monday in relation to the answer that ICTA gave him to be read in Parliament on August 11. He said the government will take action accordingly.
De Silva made these observations in response to a query made by Chief Opposition Whip Anura Kumara Dissanayake on the Deputy Minister’s statement to a private electronic media on August 11 evening that said the statement prepared by ICTA, and what he read in Parliament the same day seemed incorrect.
The Deputy Minister on August 11 in Parliament said the Government had not authorised any private company to operate the National Payment Platform (NPP) replying to a question raised by Chief Opposition Whip.
He said that he read an answer prepared by ICTA and as soon as he realised that the answer was not factually correct he informed this matter to the Prime Minister, his secretary and instructed the ICTA Chairman to halt operations.
He added that an investigation was held into this. “The report was received on Monday,” the Deputy Minister said. “We will take action against ICTA based on the findings of the investigation.”