Bribery bust!

• Govt. puts Bribery Commission under microscope
• Threatens to probe commissioners after they are replaced by the Constitutional Council
• PM informs Cabinet that Bribery Commission is practically defunct
• Rajitha says Commission deliberately dragging feet on high-level probes

The Government has accused the Commission Investigating Allegations of Bribery and Corruption of dragging its feet in probes against politicians and threatened to initiate probes into current commissioners once they are replaced following the 17 August parliamentary poll.

Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told the weekly Cabinet briefing that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had briefed the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the Bribery Commission was practically defunct because of a failure by the Chairman and Commissioners to cooperate or guide officials involved in the probes.

“They are doing this deliberately, these are all appointees of the previous regime,” Senaratne said. He said it was suspected that the Commissioners were being asked to hold high-profile probes until after the current election cycle.

The Cabinet Spokesman said that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had informed the ministers that the Commissioners were delaying the appointment of 50 additional police sleuths to build capacity in the Commission and had failed to approve the setting up of a forensic audit unit. 

“There is also a new Document Management System for the Commission awaiting approval but the Commissioners are not meeting to grant this approval,” the Minister said.

Senaratne added that the US Government had also offered training scholarships for four officials from the Commission that the Commission was refusing to approve. “The Commissioners have also requested files of certain politicians who are candidates in the General Election,” he charged. “This is totally beyond their mandate,” Senaratne said.

The Government Spokesman said that the Commission had been completely unable to perform its statutory duties for over a month from 15 May 2015, after the resignation of one commissioner.

“Even that could have been deliberate,” Senaratne said. He added that two out of three commissioners were facing corruption charges themselves.

New commissioners would be appointed by the Constitutional Council after the 17 August election, Senaratne said, adding that the current commissioners would be probed over their conduct even after they left office. (DB)