A striking line raced across Sri Lankan social media: a third of the money the country borrowed from the International Monetary Fund had been stolen, some posts went further and accused the government of pocketing it. The charge was explosive, and the figure sounded precise enough to believe. We traced it from headline to source. Here is what we found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Social Media Posts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The claim spread through a set of near-identical posts, the key example of which is shown below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Archived Link<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fact Check:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea that \u201ca third of the IMF loan was stolen\u201d first surfaced not on social media but in a handful of mainstream news headlines, so we went back and read the full reports behind them. That coverage can be viewed here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In substance, those reports said the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The underlying fraud is real, and independently corroborated. Coverage of the President’s statement appears in EconomyNext<\/a> and the Daily FT<\/a>. Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament that one investigation found a single company had funneled Rs. 12.89 billion (US$42.7 million) to 256 companies across 26 countries through 953 transactions. In response, the President, as Finance Minister, signed new Import and Export (Control) Regulations No. 06\/2026<\/a> into force. So, fraud is genuine, and the government itself is investigating it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But here is the pivot. The reports said roughly US$1 billion taken out since 2023 was equivalent<\/em> to about a third of the IMF loan, not that any part of the IMF loan itself was stolen. \u201cOne-third\u201d was a yardstick used to convey the scale of the sum, nothing more. Several headlines then dropped that crucial word \u201cequivalent,\u201d and the social media posts that followed distorted the claim further still.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What the President Actually Said in Parliament (June 2026)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe next case of corruption has been discussed on our election platforms for a long time. Since 2023, advance payments of close to US$1 billion, around Rs. 300 billion have been made through TT. But the goods never came. Within this there is drug money, money earned through corruption, wealth earned through crime. Investigations have been ordered. We are now bringing in regulations to prevent it. We have identified several bank branches, and a number of people have been arrested. What has gone out of the country in dollars is wealth earned through corruption.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-22-659x1024-1.jpeg\")
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