Editorial

It is ten months since the January 8 presidential election; ten months of waiting for the perpetrators of corruption from the previous administration to be brought to book.

The election campaign had been rip-roaring. The battle cry of those political parties backing Maithripala Sirisena’s candidacy was eliminating corruption. They vowed to punish the perpetrators of corruption and to ensure there was no recurrence.

Forget punishment. We are not even seeing indictments! The law enforcement agencies are busy trading allegations of incompetence. It is a race to the bottom. The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, is in deep sleep. When the Commission is asked about investigations it hides behind a secrecy clause, but in fact, the Commission is non-functional. It is functus officio with no authority or legal efficacy. We see law enforcement authorities trading allegations for the incompetence. The endless stream of self-righteous politicians that marched through its gates for the press cameras, carrying stacks of files, has dried up.

The new Financial Crimes Investigation Division of the Police claims to have completed several investigations and handed the files over to the Attorney General’s (AG) Department from what we know. But the AG’s Department says that the evidence collected is so wishy-washy and flimsy that the department has been able to file indictments on just three cases.

The Police appear to be adopting the age-old tactic of breaking down suspects with long periods of incarceration in remand to turn into State witnesses, ratting on their partners in crime. But, while that is an archetypical Police approach and could provide the desired results, it betrays a lack of forensic skills to go after paper trails.

We were informed by over-enthusiastic politicians of the new Government that World Bank teams, including the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) and US Federal investigators were in town many months ago to help identify the rogues of the last regime and to recover the loot. It seems like a long time ago. US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Colombo his government would help in the search for illegal deposits abroad.

The Government seems to have taken a different approach now. Short of money, it is not so much after the crooks but just the bounty. The Finance Minister has fired the first salvo by offering what is an amnesty by some other name for those who have stacked funds overseas in contravention of local laws. The next move would be — or would it be — an amnesty for the crooks of the past as long as the loot is recovered.

For the past three weeks, we have run exposés on how hundreds of millions of US dollars were channelled via the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) to lobby firms in the United States. It would appear that some of the funds ended up in a black hole.
Little is known about what some of these payments were used for. One of the main concerns is the money that was paid into the personal account of an American influence-peddler named Imaad Zuberi. There are other multi-million dollar payments, most disbursed within a few months in 2014 No accounting has been done on these.

There was a reason for why the CBSL account was used to make these outlays. The regulator falls outside the purview of Parliament or Cabinet. Meanwhile, one payment was so questionable that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York queried it three times-and then stopped it because the Central Bank had not helped the Fed Reserve “fulfill our risk management and due diligence requirements”.

As far as we know, even the CBSL under the new government has not followed up on this. Some of the payment files are “missing”. They are not to be found anywhere. The nexus between the present incumbency and the previous incumbency of the CBSL is an open secret. They did business together. One might say they are birds of a feather. The same rascals who did crooked deals in the past have wormed their way into this “National Government”. The few decent, well-meaning politicians of the new dispensation have the chance of a snowball in hell to make a difference.

Bribery and corruption are too entrenched in the political system in Sri Lanka. Politicians and political parties need funds for their longevity and without the big bucks of corrupt businessmen they will be like without oxygen. In the past, tenders were not “open” but dished out to pre-selected bidders. Today, the same players continue to be “in business”.

The controversial coal tender is a clear example of how even an open process can go wrong. There were several bidders for the multi-billion rupee contract but the selected company did not get the deal. Instead, another party received the award. The tender is still stuck in limbo with plenty of charges being traded this way and that.

A few years ago, a handful of journalists, lawyers and accountants traced a paper trail that showed that a former president had authorised the release of State lands to a friend, allowing him to make a windfall.

Two ordinary citizens of Sri Lanka filed a case and the former President was found guilty of violating the Doctrine of Public Trust and fined. Neither the Police nor the Bribery Commission was involved. And it showed how some clever minds and public-spirited persons can take a one-time, all-powerful President to justice.

In most economically developed countries, mechanisms exist as deterrents to unbridled corruption at the top. Even newly-emerging economies like China are working out ways and means to prevent continuing corruption at Government levels.
In India, various legal instruments exist for civil society groups (like First Information Reports) and even for judges (Suo Motu) to initiate investigations. This is something missing in Sri Lanka’s legal system. Here, one must sit and wait till the Bribery Commission or the FCID does what it takes. But they need not have exclusive rights to tackling bribery and corruption. They are themselves enveloped in political controversy.

It is one thing to track down corruption of past regimes. It is another if amnesties are to be offered in exchange for the loot and still another, to take measures to prevent corruption in the present.