Sunday Times 2
Taking issue with black money in Sri Lanka
With the advent of the new government under President Maithripala Sirisena and the coalition government, there is no gainsaying that the government is having a difficult time managing the economic situation the country is facing.
It is also a well known fact that the incumbent government has to settle many debts as well as pay the interest on the huge amount of money taken from Chinese banks and other donors which was obtained by the previous government ostensibly for development projects undertaken by them.
Notwithstanding this inescapable responsibility of settling loans and paying interest, the government also embarked on popular measures by reducing the price of gas, petrol, essential goods etc., to please the masses. They brought in a budget this year with the whole idea of bridging the gap by earning revenue by taxing many consumer items as well as motor vehicles etc. Even these measures did not see the light as the proposals were withdrawn or tinkered with to satisfy the opponents of the budget. This has led to a serious wide gap in the deficit of earnable income and the economic situation has deteriorated to such an extent that the government is finding it difficult to implement any of their plans.
It has been reported that the Finance Ministry is planning to accept a large amount of money in foreign exchange from a foreign benefactor whose name has not been disclosed. Further, the Finance Ministry is said to have sought cabinet approval to have this amount brought in.
It has also been reported that the Finance Ministry had requested the Central Bank and commercial banks to accept any amount of deposits with the policy of “no questions”. To this request it is reported both the Central Bank and the commercial banks had expressed displeasure and opposed the proposal by the Finance Ministry. Receiving large sums of money from undisclosed individuals and accepting large sums of money from depositors without asking questions as to how they acquired such large sums of money is a sure way of offering bait to those who have earned through illegal activities large sums of money they cannot declare legally, to be deposited in any bank.
Money laundering is a simple exercise of converting illegally amassed wealth into a legal system of money transaction. It is like washing the dirty money through a money laundering process to make it clean. Wittingly or unwittingly the government is opening the doors for international and local persons indulging in illegal activities to dump their unaccountable illegal money in Sri Lanka so that the money will get into the system of legal money transactions.
There is a saying that one should not “look a gift horse in the mouth”. However, this does not mean that we should accept anyone’s money without at least checking on the background of those who are volunteering to help the government by donating large sums of money. Even in the case of Sri Lankan depositors, the already prevailing rules which have been made with much thought and care, should be enforced. We should laud the officials of both the Central Bank and the commercial banks for conveying their displeasure at the so called request by the Finance Ministry to accept large sums of money with no questions asked.
International and local drug traffickers, as well as those engaged in illegal activities may be waiting in the wings to dump their ill-gotten money into our country if the government is facilitating such easy methods for disposing their black money. The government should be cautious about such offers and also should check on the background of such donors or benefactors.
(B. Anton Jeyanathan is a retired DIG of the Sri Lanka Police.)