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Sri Lanka's Anti Corruption Front accuses govt of delaying corruption probe

Xinhua, May 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Sri Lanka's leading Anti Corruption Front (ACF), on Monday accused the government of failing to conduct a speedy inquiry into allegations of corruption despite being in power for over a year.

A statement by the ACF said that putting an end to bribery and corruption and punishing those engaged in serious financial crimes during the previous regime were the top election promises of the new government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

However the ACF said that while in the first six months, the new government had made significant progress regarding investigations on corruption, the anti-corruption drive had now slowed drastically.

"The inefficiency of the Attorney General's department and the influence of several cabinet ministers, who have links to the AG's department are the main reasons for this," the statement said.

"ACF attempted to expedite the legal process by exerting significant pressure on the former AG, however that attempt ended in failure. Our next attempt was to ensure that credible and independent persons are appointed to the AG's department, however it seems that that attempt might also fail."

The ACF further said that it had tendered 512 verified complaints to six institutions that deal with corruption in Sri Lanka, including the Financial Crimes Investigations Division, the Criminal Investigations Department, the Bribery Commission and the PRECIFAC (Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges.)

However the organization noted that progress made on these complaints had been painfully slow and inquiries had shown that most of the investigations have not gone beyond the AG's Department.

"Thus investigations on most of these allegations of financial crime have not even reached the second stage of inquiry, i.e. taking legal action."

President Sirisena in the recently concluded Anti Corruption Summit in London said that his government was fully committed to fighting corruption as they were elected to office on the policy platform of democracy, good governance and rule of law.

Sirisena said that while he considered it a prime duty to root out corruption from the country, the government had already taken significant measures for this purpose.

Several members in the previous government including former President Mahinda Rajapakse and his family are all under a corruption probe in the island nation after they were ousted out of power in a presidential and parliamentary election last year. Endit