Govt. will appoint Presidential Commission to probe corruption: Bandula

Friday, 7 February 2020 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Says Commission will look into corruption allegations of former Govt.
Commission likely to be appointed after General Elections
Pledges to investigation allegations and bring offenders to justice irrespective of status

By Uditha Jayasinghe

The Government yesterday said a Presidential Commission would be appointed to investigate large-scale corruption that allegedly took place under the previous Government and pledged to bring to justice all offenders irrespective of their status.

Cabinet Spokesman Bandula Gunawardana, responding to questions at the weekly Cabinet briefing, noted that not only would they investigate findings in a recent audit report that detailed massive losses of public funds in the transfer of the Agriculture Ministry to a private building under the former Government, but also take on other allegations of corruption.

“Once the General Election is concluded we will appoint a Presidential Commission to undertake an impartial and independent inquiry into all corruption cases,” he told reporters, but declined to go into details on which allegations would be taken up.

Last month the Auditor General (AG) recommended that a formal inquiry be undertaken by relevant authorities with regards to the leasing of a private building to house the Agriculture Ministry by the previous Government, with about Rs. 1,524.44 million in Government funds spent without transparency and in contravention of the procurement guidelines while exceeding the valuation of the Government Assessor.

A special audit report which looked into the leasing of a private building in Rajagiriya to the Ministry of Agriculture said that the old building named ‘Govijana Mandiraya’ was vacated to house the newly-established Parliamentary Oversight Committees, but even by the end of 2019 the building was not used for this purpose and was lying idle while the Government was paying an exorbitant rent of Rs. 21 million a month for a privately-leased building.

On Wednesday Senior Advisor on Economic Affairs to the Prime Minister and former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said he would request President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to order an independent and impartial re-investigation into the bond scam, to be conducted by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). The Parliament debate on the forensic audits conducted on bond sales will be held next week.

In January 2019 former President Maithripala Sirisena appointed a Commission of Inquiry to investigate into corruption and malpractice committed in the period from 15 January 2015 to 31 December 2018 under the ‘Yahapalana’ Government.

The five-member Commission was headed by retired High Court Judge Upali Abeyratne. The other members included retired High Court Judge Sarojini Kusala Weerawardena, retired Auditor General P.A. Pemathilaka, former Ministry Secretary Lalith R. de Silva and former DIG M. K. D. Wijaya Amarasinghe. The final report of the commission was handed over to Sirisena in September 2019.

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