Yahapalana News

While Minister of Law and Order Tilak Marapana says that he believes the whole controversy surrounding the Avant Garde issue is a result of a lack of understanding regarding the floating armoury and police officers eager to gain points” with the new government, at an international level, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Harsha de Silva says Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption efforts not rhetorical.

Addressing the high level segment of the Conference of State Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption in the Russian City of St. Petersburgh on Tuesday (3), he stated that the Government of Sri Lanka, under the leadership of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, has taken a host of measures to prevent corruption, to seek out stolen assets and to build the capacity for effectively curbing corruption and bribery, in an effective, comprehensive, result-oriented manner.

Currently, investigations into allegations of bribery, corruption and money laundering are being proactively pursued by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption, the Financial Crimes Investigation Division and the Criminal Investigation Department.”

The Presidential Task Force on Stolen Assets Recovery was also established to recover stolen assets belonging to the State,” he said.

Dr. Harsha de Silva stressed that in a country where anti-corruption was only a rhetorical commitment under the last government, all these measures, aimed to contribute towards a culture of good governance, represented a paradigm shift.