Sri Lankan authorities have reopened investigations into two significant procurement transactions from previous administrations involving Australian cattle and Chinese fertiliser, as part of a comprehensive review of historical public expenditure.

The Government has initiated investigations into two overseas procurement deals totalling $17.79 million, according to Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala, who disclosed the matter during parliamentary proceedings on the Treasury cyber fraud committee report.

The first transaction involved $11.09 million spent during 2014/15 for the procurement of 20,000 milch cows from Australia. According to Wijepala, the cattle were never received and the funds were subsequently lost. He stated that no prior investigation had been undertaken into this transaction despite the apparent irregularities. The second case concerns $6.7 million allocated for Chinese fertiliser imports, with authorities investigating why the fertiliser was not delivered as planned.

Wijepala characterised both cases as components of a broader government initiative to review historical overseas payments and identify financial anomalies. He indicated that investigators are examining older transactions systematically to determine whether public funds were misappropriated and to uncover irregularities that had escaped scrutiny in the past. The Minister's comments suggest the current administration views these investigations as part of a wider accountability drive concerning public expenditure under previous governments.