TISL hails President’s pledge to combat corruption

Friday, 4 September 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Transparency Intern-ational Sri Lanka (TISL) in a statement yesterday hailed President Maithripala Sirisena and his Government for deciding to further strengthen the institutional mechanisms available to arrest corruption and waste.

TISL also praised the President’s decision to be firm and take punitive action against those who were accused of corruption and misappropriation of public funds, regardless of their status.

The following is the full text of the statement.

Meanwhile, we would like to draw your attention to the recent report in the newspapers that thousands of complaints on bribery and corruption have piled up at the office of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC). TISL would be happy if the Government takes immediate action to build the capacity of CIABOC function without any hiccup. We earnestly appeal to Your Excellency to take steps to appoint fit and proper persons and re-establish the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption in accordance with the provisions underlined in the Constitution. This is very much in keeping with Your Excellency’s commitment to free our country of corruption and waste.

We also believe that anti-corruption machinery is vital for the credible image of the country, particularly because Sri Lanka is a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the legally binding international anti-corruption instrument. Under the UNCAC the signatories are obliged to implement a wide range of anticorruption measures affecting their laws, institutions and practices.

With the accent on economic development which necessitates the attraction of foreign investment on a large scale, it is imperative that an environment conducive to such initiatives be created so that Foreign Direct Investors will feel comfortable in coming over to invest in Sri Lanka. In this context an effective, efficient and transparent governance system is of importance.

We also note that appointments have to be made to other Commissions as stipulated under the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which was passed in Parliament in May 2015. These include the Public Service Commission, the National Police Commission, the Election Commission and the National Audit Commission.