Sri Lanka parliament votes to set up special high courts to hear corruption cases

COLOMBO, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's parliament on Wednesday night voted in favor of setting up special high courts to hear cases of large scale fraud and corruption, local media reported Thursday.

The special Bill was presented to Parliament and passed with a majority of 67 votes.

Around 119 legislators voted in favor to create the high courts which will hear multi million dollars financial crimes and reduce the backlog of cases while 52 legislators voted against.

"The new courts will reduce pressure on the criminal justice system and help speed up hearings," Justice Minister Thalatha Atukorale said.

The choice of which cases will be taken up by the new courts will be made by the chief justice to ensure that no political pressure is involved, the minister added.

The Government Information Department said that some of the cases which will be heard in the special courts include dishonest misappropriation of property, criminal breach of trust by public servants and dishonestly receiving stolen property.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, on Tuesday said that as a government, strong decisions will be taken to control and eradicate bribery and corruption in government sector and other areas.

Sirisena warned that law and order would be applied on anyone who was caught in bribery or corruption, irrespective of their status. Enditem