By Buddhika Samaraweera Courtesy The Morning

The Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms, President Counsel Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said that provisions have been included in the proposed Anti-Corruption Bill in such a way that the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) can seek the assistance of the Attorney General (AG) to file cases at any time.

A discussion on the theme ‘Will Sri Lanka be able to take a sustainable path towards anti-corruption’, organised by the National Movement for Social Justice was held in Colombo on Monday (4).

Speaking during the discussion, Dr. Rajapakshe said that according to the existing legal provisions including the CIABOC Act, No. 19 of 1994, there are issues in obtaining legal assistance from the AG to file cases. “There were issues as to whether the AG’s Department could appear for bribery cases or not. That is because there is no clear provision in the existing Act for the AG to appear in bribery cases. In such cases, the CIABOC has no ability to go alone and argue, especially in serious cases. Therefore, through this Bill, we have introduced provisions to give the CIABOC the constitutional right to seek the assistance of the AG at any time.”

Speaking further, he said that acts of corruption cannot be eliminated just because the legal provisions are there, adding that the politicians and the general public too have a great responsibility towards it. “The prevalence of a law is not enough for the people to get the benefits of an enacted law. There should be the law on one side, and apart from that, the politicians should have the will to eradicate corruption honestly. The third responsibility rests with the people. There should be a great commitment from the people and they should not contribute to corruption or fraud in any way,” he added.

The Cabinet of Ministers’ approval for the Bill has already been granted and it is to be presented to the Parliament soon. The Bill has however been criticised by certain parties including former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, during whose tenure the existing CIABOC Act was enacted, who claimed that the proposed Bill does not have any provision to prevent people from engaging in acts of corruption.

Speaking to The Daily Morning early this week, Dr. Rajapakshe said that all parties including civil society organisations which are working towards the elimination of corruption have engaged in preparing the Bill. “We would not have wasted our time to prepare a Bill which cannot be effectively implemented. This was prepared after having lengthy discussions with the relevant parties. Even then, if there are suggestions to improve this further, we welcome them. One can also challenge the Bill in the Supreme Court if there is any illegality,” he said.