US provides assistance for combating corruption in Sri Lanka

As a commitment to preventing and combating corruption globally, the United States is providing assistance to four countries, including Sri Lanka, to help strengthen transparency and accountability within government institutions.

As part of US Government-wide effort to combat corruption and facilitate asset recovery, the US co-hosted with the United Kingdom the inaugural Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C., which ended yesterday after commencing on 4 December. The US has contributed $ 1 million to the World Bank and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) to organise the GFAR and provide technical assistance to support country-level capacity building and coordination on asset recovery cases. The forum aims to facilitate the recovery of stolen assets from four countries - Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Ukraine - by convening more than 150 law enforcement officials, prosecutors and financial centre representatives to discuss ongoing asset recovery cases related to the four focus countries.

GFAR provides a platform to enable Sri Lanka and other focus countries to make tangible progress on significant asset recovery cases in connection with financial centres and other jurisdictions. In addition to co-hosting GFAR, the US has provided significant technical assistance to the four focus countries to strengthen anticorruption and asset recovery efforts.

Since FY 2016, the US Government has provided foreign assistance for anti-corruption efforts in Sri Lanka to improve the functioning of Sri Lanka’s legal system and civil society, and to enhance good governance. Programs include the provision of a Resident Legal Advisor to provide anti-corruption and asset recovery training, and support to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption.