{"id":156639,"date":"2026-06-06T15:06:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T22:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=156639"},"modified":"2026-06-06T15:06:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T22:06:40","slug":"corporate-corruption-the-missing-piece-in-sri-lankas-anti-corruption-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/06\/06\/corporate-corruption-the-missing-piece-in-sri-lankas-anti-corruption-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate Corruption: The Missing Piece in Sri Lanka’s Anti-Corruption Agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Sri Lanka is witnessing a renewed effort to combat corruption in the public sector. Investigations, audits, and legal reforms are being promoted as essential steps towards restoring public confidence and economic stability. These efforts are welcome and long overdue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there is an equally important question that deserves national attention: Why is the spotlight focused almost exclusively on state-sector corruption while corporate corruption remains largely unexamined?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, several large Sri Lankan companies have collapsed, entered insolvency, or suffered severe financial distress. When such failures occur, thousands of employees lose their livelihoods, shareholders lose their investments, banks are left exposed, and the wider economy suffers. Yet public discussion often treats these events as mere business failures rather than potential failures of governance, accountability, and ethical leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corporate corruption can take many forms: manipulation of financial statements, abuse of company assets, conflicts of interest, related-party transactions, procurement irregularities, insider dealings, and excessive executive enrichment at the expense of shareholders and creditors.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a major corporation collapses, regulators should not simply ask whether the business model failed. They should also ask whether directors and executives fulfilled their fiduciary responsibilities and whether corporate governance safeguards were effective.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lifestyles and wealth accumulated by some corporate leaders before and during periods of corporate decline deserve scrutiny wherever there are reasonable grounds for concern. Transparency should not be demanded only of politicians and public servants. It should also be expected of those entrusted with managing large private enterprises that affect thousands of employees and investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka cannot build a culture of accountability by targeting only one form of corruption. Public-sector corruption and corporate-sector corruption are two sides of the same coin. Both undermine trust, distort economic decision-making, discourage investment, and weaken institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fight against corruption must therefore extend beyond government offices and into boardrooms. Regulators, auditors, shareholders, lenders, and law-enforcement agencies must work together to ensure that corporate power is exercised responsibly and transparently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Sri Lanka is serious about creating a fair and prosperous economy, accountability must apply equally to ministers, public officials, chief executives, directors, and corporate elites. No sector should be beyond scrutiny, and no individual should be above the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only then can the country establish a truly comprehensive anti-corruption framework capable of restoring public trust and protecting future generations.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Sarath Obeysekera Sri Lanka is witnessing a renewed effort to combat corruption in the public sector. Investigations, audits, and legal reforms are being promoted as essential steps towards restoring public confidence and economic stability. These efforts are welcome and long overdue. However, there is an equally important question that deserves national attention: Why is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sarath-obeysekera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156640,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156639\/revisions\/156640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}