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CIABOC’s national action plan calls for sweeping law reforms to combat bribery, corruption
View(s):Penalising bribery of foreign public officials and private sector bribery, providing for conflicts of interest rules and whistle-blower protection are among the highlights of the proposed national action plan of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC)
The Action Plan has been formulated under five specific areas: Preventive measures; value-based education and community engagement; institutional strengthening of CIABOC and other law enforcement agencies; law and policy reforms; and monitoring and evaluation.
Under the law-and-policy-reform section, far reaching amendments have been proposed to the laws coming within the purview of CIABOC. The amendments relate to anti-corruption efforts, policy reforms and compliance with international obligations, the Sunday Times learns.
The action plan states amendments to the Bribery Act No. 11 of 1954 must be considered, in line with contemporary realities, so as to broaden CIABOC’s mandate to include preventive activities and investigate money laundering related to bribery and corruption. The amendments are also aimed at restructuring procedural and evidential laws to streamline the presentation of the facts of a case.
Another law to which amendments are proposed is the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Law.
“Illicit accumulation of wealth is an offence in itself. The declaration of assets assists in identifying unexplained additions of wealth and therefore is a valuable investigative tool. At the same time, the necessity to declare all assets of a person morally compels the person to refrain from amassing wealth through dishonest means, which, therefore, acts as an effective preventive tool,” the action plans states.
It proposes that this law to be amended to expand the categories of persons required to submit asset disclosures, introduce an electronic system of submission, establish a verification procedure, establish a specialised unit to handle submissions and verification, enhance public access to promote transparency and impose proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.
The action plans also call for the responsible authorities to revisit laws governing proceeds of crime, campaign finance laws, and money laundering. This needs to be done through a stringent, multi-stakeholder participatory process to ensure a comprehensive legal and policy regime geared towards fighting corruption effectively.
The process will also contemplate whether parliamentary oversight committees will be required to play an enhanced role in monitoring and overseeing anti-corruption efforts.
The Action Plan also said that preventive measures against corruption need to be addressed at several levels. One such area is the public service where, “while honesty and fidelity to duty of majority of public officials in Sri Lanka are irrefutable, practical realities have underscored several key factors in the public service as nurseries of corruption.”
It said that the absence of a culture of integrity, and the ignorance of the general public as to the procedures often lead to administrative impunity. “A common occurrence is when a ‘contact point’ within public institutions is often sought by the people in their attempt to navigate the lack of transparency and bureaucracy of the administrative system. It is, however reiterated that the majority of public servants are honest in their dispensation of duties and need only to be guided in the right direction.
To tackle corruption in the public service, the Action Plan has proposed the establishment of a Corruption Prevention Division at CIABOC, enhancing integrity and preventing corruption in the public sector, optimising citizen’s access to public services, preventing corruption in the private sector, ensuring integrity of elected representatives, integrity in public procurement and public finances and increasing public confidence in the integrity of the criminal justice system.