Prime Minister vows to eliminate corruption in Govt.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Sunday said his Government would not tolerate corruption and vowed to remove those involved in corruption if investigations proved them guilty.

In a hard-hitting speech in Hatton, the Premier said the United National Party was not a party of “thieves” and if investigations proved that there were thieves in the UNP, they would be removed.

“This Government will not keep anyone who is corrupt. Our party is not a party of thieves. We will remove the thieves if there are any but let us do this transparently,” the Premier said.

The Prime Minister said that if any matter was left uncovered, those reports would be probed and now anyone could be questioned.

He said those who voted for the Government wanted a society free of corruption and if the Government failed to deliver this the public would vote them out the next time and warned the members of the Government against indulging in corrupt practices.

The Prime Minister’s comments come amidst the controversy surrounding Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake and the Opposition’s call for his resignation.

Speaking further, the Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said his Government was investigating all corruption cases and no one could escape.

He said the Government was investigating all corruption cases during the previous regime and the police had filed cases into some of them. Some have been brought to the attention of the Attorney General.

“We have filed cases over the previous Government’s corruption. They are going on. No one can escape,” he said.

He said when the Central Bank Bond issue allegations were made against the Government, he appointed an internal probe and later it was referred to a parliamentary committee headed by an Opposition member. “Nobody opposed that,” he said.

The Premier also pointed out that now there is legal freedom to even question a Minister.

“Today there is so much freedom that ministers are brought in for questioning. Was that how it used to be? Before, the Attorney General was the President’s disciple. The Attorney General would have been removed or taken by a white van,” the Premier said.

The Prime Minister, criticising the mainstream media, said those media outlets pandering to the Rajapaksa regime were now saying that there are thieves in the present Government.

Recalling the killing of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge and the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda, the Premier said that now when the Government investigates these cases, the media says it is a threat to national security.

Wickremesinghe was participating in a series of religious ceremonies held in conjunction with the meeting of the UNP members of the Maskeliya Divisional Council today. The events were organised to mark the 40th anniversary of the Prime Minister’s political life.