News
Corruption: White Paper on tough new law made public
View(s):- Officers can arrest without warrants, trail officials suspected of being involved in corrupt activities
By Namini Wijedasa
A new anti-corruption law proposed by the Government envisages the creation of an Independent Commission whose authorised officers may arrest without a magisterial order or a warrant any person suspected of having carried out an offence under the proposed Act.
The maximum period of detention is 24 hours. Officers may also arrest those who have committed (or against whom there is a reasonable complaint, suspicion or credible information of having committed) any act outside of Sri Lanka which, if carried out in Sri Lanka, would’ve been punishable under the proposed law.
The 108-page Anti-Corruption Bill is in circulation for public comment. It allows an authorised officer of
the Independent Commission against Corruption to apply to the High Court for a warrant for covert monitoring of any conduct and recording of any communication if there are “reasonable grounds to suspect or believe that a person has committed, is committing or is about to commit an offence”.
Separately, the Director-General may seek magisterial permission to direct any person providing locking or encryption services pertaining to any communication or storage servicesa or equipment of any data or information or other such matters, to unlock or un-encrypt the service or equipment and provide information contained therein.
Such permission could extend to intercepting, reading, listening or recording any postal message or electronic mail or any telephone, voice, internet, or video conversation, or conference or any communication through any other medium; or to accessing any analogue or digital data or information of any exchange or transfer system.
The Bill has a separate section on declarations of assets and liabilities. It seeks to compel public officials to make periodic declarations of their assets and liabilities within and outside Sri Lanka.
It provides for a centralised electronic system for the submission of such declarations and allows for reference to be made to such declarations by appropriate authorities and for investigations to be conducted. It also provides for “appropriate measures” to be taken in respect of late submissions, non-declaration of assets and liabilities, and against false declarations.
The law, thus, aims to prevent illicit enrichment and conflicts of interest arising in the discharge of public functions or official activities, through public scrutiny.”
The submission and verification of declarations of assets and liabilities shall be made through the centralised electronic system (CES) administered by the Commission.
This CES shall automatically generate redacted versions of every declaration of assets and liabilities. As such, residential addresses, full addresses of declared real estate (except information pertaining to the relevant ward and district), dates of birth, national identity card or passport numbers and bank account numbers will be struck off.
The Commission, meanwhile, shall appoint an Information Officer under the Right to Information Act to facilitate access to the stored data. The Commission’s Chair shall be the Designated Officer.
In terms of offences, the Act also holds members of the private sector accountable. It states that any person who “directs or works, in any capacity, for a private sector entity, in the course of economic, financial or commercial activities” and who solicits or accepts–directly or indirectly–an advantage for himself or another person (in order that such person does any act or refrain from doing any act in breach of such person’s duties), commits an offence of bribery under the Act.
The law provides protection against false allegations, the punishment for which– on conviction after summary trial before a Magistrate– a fine not exceeding Rs 200,000 or imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both.
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