By The Pulseline News Desk
SriLankan Airlines is facing renewed scrutiny after alleging that several employees at its Chennai office in India misappropriated INR 22 million through fraudulent financial transactions, exposing fresh concerns about oversight and internal controls at the state-owned carrier.
The airline says the alleged fraud involved staff members attached to the finance division of its Indian operations. According to the company, invoices were manipulated, payment information altered and signatures forged over a period that investigators are still attempting to determine.
The suspected irregularities were reportedly detected by the airline’s headquarters in Colombo during an internal review of overseas financial transactions. SriLankan Airlines has since referred the matter to Indian authorities while launching its own inquiry.
Officials say several employees linked to the investigation stopped reporting to work after the probe began.
The alleged fraud, valued at around USD 260,000, is modest by global airline industry standards. Yet analysts say the reputational damage could prove far more significant for an airline that has spent years attempting to rebuild credibility amid financial losses, political controversy and operational challenges.
The incident comes at a particularly sensitive moment for SriLankan Airlines, which remains under pressure to improve profitability and governance following years of debt accumulation and state intervention.
Aviation industry observers note that overseas offices can become vulnerable to fraud when financial approval systems rely heavily on manual processes and decentralised supervision.
The Chennai case emerged alongside another financial incident involving a UAE-based service provider, where SriLankan Airlines said a third party allegedly compromised a vendor’s email account and altered banking instructions before funds were transferred.
Together, the two incidents have highlighted growing cybersecurity and compliance risks facing international airlines that manage payments across multiple jurisdictions, currencies and contractors.
SriLankan Airlines has not publicly disclosed how long the alleged fraud continued or whether external auditors had previously flagged irregularities. Indian authorities have also not announced arrests or formal charges linked to the case.
The airline has emphasized that operations between Sri Lanka and India remain unaffected.
India is one of SriLankan Airlines’ most important regional markets, with the carrier operating flights between Colombo and major Indian cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi. The routes serve both point-to-point passengers and transit travelers connecting onward to destinations in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Industry analysts say cases involving internal fraud can have consequences beyond direct financial losses. Such allegations can affect supplier confidence, insurance exposure and public trust – particularly for state-owned enterprises already under intense political and financial scrutiny.
SriLankan Airlines, wholly owned by the Sri Lankan government, has faced repeated calls for restructuring and privatisation over the past decade as successive administrations struggled to reduce losses at the national carrier.
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