The letter of resignation tendered by the Director General of the Commission into Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOAC) has been accepted by the Sri Lankan President. The DG, who was appointed in February last year, had sent in her resignation on Monday, 17 October 2016, in the wake of the Sri Lankan President’s criticism against the manner in which investigations were being carried out by the anti-graft body headed by her. The Deputy Director General will now oversee the work of the CIABOAC until a new DG is appointed.
However, the President, who had just returned from the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach summit held in India, had earlier delayed taking a decision on the controversial CIABOAC head. He, in whose absence the resignation letter had been submitted, is said to have awaited the arrival of the Prime Minister, who is also away from the country, holding discussions with European Union officials in Brussels to regain the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP +) facility.
Meanwhile, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a constituent political party of the present administration, had alleged that the DG was politically biased and her resignation was a move to avoid possible action against those responsible for the Central Bank (CB) bond issue. The report of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) on the CB bond scam, which has cost the Government to the tune of LKR 10 billion, is to be referred to the CIABOAC for action next week. The JHU contends that many of the accused are linked to the present Government.
The DG of the CIABOAC is widely believed to have been hand-picked by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, the leader of the United National Party (UNP), which is a key partner of the present National Unity Government. She, as the head of the high-powered investigation body, frequently grabbed headlines for probes of alleged corruption and financial crimes committed by the previous regime. The ruling coalition, led by the Sri Lankan President headed-SLFP and the UNP, came into power in January last year on an anti-corruption platform. It is now under mounting pressure for not bringing to books the culprits of the much-cited misdeeds.
In a separate development, the Speaker of the Sri Lankan parliament had met the chairmen and members of the five independent commissions, namely Commission into Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, National Police Commission, National Procurement Commission, National Finance Commission and National Elections Commission, at the parliamentary complex in the state’s administrative capital Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, apparently to defuse the prevailing tension. The Speaker, who is also the Chairman of the Constitutional Council responsible for making appointments to the independent commissions, had held separate discussions to ascertain their present status of performance and future course of action. Later issuing a statement, he had said that neither the President nor the Prime Minister would allow undue interference in the functions of the independent commissions.
However, the President, who had just returned from the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach summit held in India, had earlier delayed taking a decision on the controversial CIABOAC head. He, in whose absence the resignation letter had been submitted, is said to have awaited the arrival of the Prime Minister, who is also away from the country, holding discussions with European Union officials in Brussels to regain the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP +) facility.
Meanwhile, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a constituent political party of the present administration, had alleged that the DG was politically biased and her resignation was a move to avoid possible action against those responsible for the Central Bank (CB) bond issue. The report of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) on the CB bond scam, which has cost the Government to the tune of LKR 10 billion, is to be referred to the CIABOAC for action next week. The JHU contends that many of the accused are linked to the present Government.
The DG of the CIABOAC is widely believed to have been hand-picked by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, the leader of the United National Party (UNP), which is a key partner of the present National Unity Government. She, as the head of the high-powered investigation body, frequently grabbed headlines for probes of alleged corruption and financial crimes committed by the previous regime. The ruling coalition, led by the Sri Lankan President headed-SLFP and the UNP, came into power in January last year on an anti-corruption platform. It is now under mounting pressure for not bringing to books the culprits of the much-cited misdeeds.
In a separate development, the Speaker of the Sri Lankan parliament had met the chairmen and members of the five independent commissions, namely Commission into Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, National Police Commission, National Procurement Commission, National Finance Commission and National Elections Commission, at the parliamentary complex in the state’s administrative capital Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, apparently to defuse the prevailing tension. The Speaker, who is also the Chairman of the Constitutional Council responsible for making appointments to the independent commissions, had held separate discussions to ascertain their present status of performance and future course of action. Later issuing a statement, he had said that neither the President nor the Prime Minister would allow undue interference in the functions of the independent commissions.
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