Govt. says probes on corruption are impartial and independent not political

The Government yesterday guaranteed the independence of investigations carried out by all law enforcement agencies in the country including the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) and denied any sort of undue political intervention in the enforcement of the law..

“It should be noted that the Financial Crimes Investigation Division of the Police Department or the Anti-Corruption Committee Secretariat are not controlled by the Cabinet Subcommittee on Anti-Corruption by any means, although the progress of the investigations carried out not only by the FCID but also by the other law enforcement agencies is reviewed once a week so as to ensure effective law enforcement,” the Government said in a statement.

The following is the full statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) is only a functional division of the Police Department, which was established in response to the emerging trend of serious financial frauds. This division was established in terms of the provisions of Section 55 of the Police Ordinance, with the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers and it operates under the exclusive supervision and direction of the Inspector General of Police.

There are 64 functional divisions in the Police Department such as the Terrorist Investigation Division, Criminal Records Division, Criminal Investigation Division, Colombo Crimes Division, Narcotics Bureau, Child & Women Bureau, Fraud Investigation Bureau, Environment Protection Division etc. In fact, most of those divisions were not there at the very inception of the Police Department. Those divisions were established from time to time to cater to the contemporary trends, in the same manner the FCID was established.

No special statutory power or mandate has been given to the FCID other than the powers vested with the Police Department. The purpose of establishing this division was to employ the services of an experienced group of officers to handle investigations on financial crimes of a grave nature and expedite those investigations.

The Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) is a Cabinet Subcommittee headed by the Prime Minister, which was setup as per a decision taken at the Cabinet meeting held on 21.01.2015. This committee was setup with a view to recommending measures to be adopted to prevent the occurrence of large-scale corruption and fraud in the future. On the recommendation of the Anti-Corruption Committee and the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers, a dedicated Secretariat named the Anti-Corruption Committee Secretariat was also established to coordinate the investigations of the allegations on serious frauds, financial crimes and corruption.

It should be noted that the Financial Crimes Investigation Division of the Police Department or the Anti-Corruption Committee Secretariat are not controlled by the Cabinet Subcommittee on Anti-Corruption by any means, although the progress of the investigations carried out not only by the FCID but also by the other law enforcement agencies, is reviewed once a week so as to ensure effective law enforcement.

The Government assures the independence of the investigations carried out by all the law enforcement agencies in the country including the Financial Crimes Investigation Division and denies any sort of undue political intervention to the enforcement of the law.