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The performance of some Treasury officials appointed to various public institutions was zero, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday. He said Treasury officials assigned to SriLankan Airlines, the Ports Authority, Petroleum Corporation etc were not able to reduce the losses incurred by these respective institutions in any way. He added if experts are appointed to such places it should be done in accordance with the law. The Prime Minister made these observations in Parliament in response to a question raised by opposition member Bandula Gunawardena. MP Gunawardena said the Financial Crimes Investigations Unit (FCID) has become a threat to the private sector and to public servants. “Some public servants have tendered their resignation fearing questioning from the FCID”, MP Gunawardena said “The government should take measures to reinstate them without delay. The people will not be able get anything done from the state sector if these public servants leave.” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who responded said investigations will have to be carried out to ascertain if any one had done anything wrong. “ What have these public sector workers done?” Premier Wickremesinghe asked. He added that the Tourism Board officials had granted money to the Employee Welfare Organization to promote the tourism industry which was wrong. “What did they do with that money,” the Prime Minister questioned. “That money had been distributed among the people during the Uva Provincial Council election”. The Prime Minister also said some have distributed mamoties and roofing sheets among the people during the election period. He added politicians from both sides do so. “If we need to change, we can do it when formulating the new election laws,”the Prime Minister said. He said those public servants who had resigned cannot be reinstated. He added that these public servants have resigned on their own and had tendered letters showing cause for their resignations. “They have pointed out they fear to work in those positions and so we cannot drag them back and reinstate them” Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said. MP Dinesh Gunawardane said going on a witch hunt of private sector workers by the FCID has become a disturbing trend. He said one private sector personality who was providing his service to the government in an honorary capacity had already been questioned by the FCID. At this stage, the Prime Minister said the private sector workers which the MPs referred was a friend of his too. “ He is a friend of mine too. But, he had been questioned following a court order. The decision of the private sector person was made by the judiciary and not the government,” the Prime Minister said.