Establishing a comprehensive anti-corruption system in a country can be considered as one of the vital components to maintain good governance. A serious allegation levelled against every Government is that some of their political leaders, ministers and top officials have earned money and assets through various corrupt and illegal practices.
When analysing this accusation well, it is clear that it is based on two factors. In some cases, it appears that some of the responsible people, including those mentioned above, have earned significant wealth and owned assets through illegal means. This is one reason for the accusation but it is sad that some political leaders and Governments which are performing well are also being accused of corruption when there is no reason to blame them. On the other hand, the discussion about corruption due to these two reasons has also indicated the long felt need of bringing in a tough anti-corruption policy.
Sri Lanka has taken various measures to combat corruption and also tried to do so by bringing in changes to the existing legal system to eliminate fraud, corruption and bribery. The Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Law No 1 of 1975, the Commission to Investigate Allegations or Bribery of Corruption Act No. 19 of 1994 are enactments that exist at present to fight corruption. However, there is speculation whether these legal provisions can help to bring down bribery or corruption rates in the country. For example, even though the Commission to Investigate Allegations or Bribery of Corruption Act No. 19 of 1994 was specially brought in to eliminate bribery and corruption in the country, it cannot be said that bribery or corruption has been significantly controlled.
In the past, a considerable number of people, who were charged and prosecuted by the Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), were acquitted of those charges and it was found that several of them were politicians. In some cases, they were released as the CIABOC did not follow proper procedures. For example, some defendants have been acquitted from cases on technical grounds as the CIABOC officials have not signed the documents when cases were filed at Courts.
Existing assets
Political party representatives and public servants are required to declare their assets annually and hand over the document to a designated officer. The objective of this practice is to have a record of their existing assets and if necessary to check about changes in the assets of those individuals, if they are suspected of earning assets by illegal means. However, this asset declaration law also seemed to be not effectively implemented as there are lenient penalties for not submitting assets declarations.
In this scenario, the present Government has formulated a national anti-corruption agenda with the prime aim of curbing corruption and irregularities in the country. On July 16, 2024, President Ranil Wickremesinghe submitted a Cabinet paper seeking approval to adopt the National Anti-Corruption Agenda (NACA) and it was approved by the Cabinet this week.
The NACA is designed to apply certain provisions of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, following standards of other international anti-corruption conventions such as the Financial Action Task Force and also the existing anti-corruption laws adopted by Sri Lanka so far. The ACA will also be drafted in line with the legal, organisational and strategic framework for anti-corruption given in the Governance Diagnostic Technical Assistance Report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Combatting corruption
When going through the NACA, it is clear that it has been specially formulated to combat corruption. Firstly, it has identified the role of the NACA, which aims to formulate provisions to maintain anti-corruption activities under a legal, organisational and strategic framework. Under this, it will implement the provisions to enforce the Anti-Corruption Act (ACA) No. 09 of 2023 and then it intends to prepare a plan, ensure adequate financial allocations for the implementation and publish the progress of the implementation of the NACA once in six months. It confirms how the Government has worked to implement the ACA not only enacting laws but also conducting progress reviews on how it is implemented.
The second phase of the NCAC is the development of the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) for 2025-2029, which clearly defines its objectives, responsibilities and management. The important measure taken under the NACA is strengthening the capacity of the Auditor-General (A-G). The National Audit Act No. 19 of 2018 will be amended to provide more powers to the Auditor-General.
Under this new Amendment it will allow the A-G to share findings with law enforcement authorities for possible criminal investigations into fraud and corruption revealed by the audits in question before tabling the full report in Parliament. He will also be allowed to follow up on audit findings and recommendations. He will be also empowered to levy surcharges on officials including the Chief Accounting Officers for failure to properly discharge the responsibilities of oversight and accountability. The A-G’s capacity will be strengthened by allowing him to conduct its functions and establishing regular reporting at least every six months, and doing follow-up of audit findings and recommendations. Empowering the capacity of A-G can be noted as a significant recommendation regarding combating corruption.
In this NACA, efforts have been made to remove the shortcomings of the existing provisions regarding anti-corruption laws to strengthen those provisions. This is evident from the changes expected to be introduced regarding asset declarations. It will enact regulations to operationalise the asset declaration system. The Conflict of Interest issue has been specifically discussed here. At the same time, it has also been proposed to publish asset declarations on a designated website.
The other issue is the Amendments that are expected to be made in relation to proceeds of crime and money laundering. It has explained how to conduct strategic analysis to better understand how proceeds of crime from corruption activities are laundered through banks and also remove the existing weaknesses in the banking sector.
Important recommendation
Another important recommendation in the NACA is strengthening investigation and prosecution of corruption cases. In addition, it is expected to support anti-corruption measures by strengthening the Right To Information (RTI).
In recent times, the Government has adopted several important measures to reduce corruption and irregularities in Sri Lanka. One of the milestones is passing the ACA. The NACA has made ground for the full implementation of this important Act. It is also given a special focus to the issues arising in anti-corruption measures. It is clear that the NACA has been presented with a broad understanding of all factors that have led to the success of such measures and legal arrangements in Sri Lanka. In this instance, President Wickremesinghe has taken a historic move by introducing the NACA to strengthen the Government’s efforts in combatting corruption.
Therefore, it is not only the duty of the leaders but also the public to make the NACA an effective national endeavour to curb fraud, corruption and all sorts of irregularities as much as possible, at all times.
