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The Auditor General has raised issue over the poor performance of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).

In its observations on the Annual Performance Report of the CIABOC, the Auditor General’s Department has pointed out that while the Commission had completed 69 cases in 2021, 40 of these cases or 58% were withdrawals.

Accused individuals in 18 cases filed by the Commission were found to be innocent while accused individuals were convicted only in 11 cases. Furthermore, the Commission had filed 89 cases in 2022 and had withdrawn 45 for various reasons. It has sued again only for 20 of those cases at the time of auditing.

The Auditor General has also found that as of December 31, 2021, there were 1,508 pending files in the legal branch of the Commission. A total of 489 out of these were cases older than five years while 33 were over 10 years.

There were 926 pending files as of December 31, 2022, and their time analysis was not submitted for audit.

Cabinet approval was granted for the National Action Plan for Combating Bribery and Corruption in Sri Lanka on February 5, 2019, and implementation of its activities began on March 18, 2019. Although nearly 3 ½ years have elapsed, 11 out of the 27 activities have not been implemented, the Auditor General’s Department has also observed.

The Bribery Commission is also woefully understaffed, the Auditor General has found. According to the information given on the Commission’s civil staff, there were 36 vacancies in senior-level positions, 203 tertiary-level positions, 158 secondary-level positions, and 56 primary-level positions. There were 15 vacancies for investigation staff.

President walks from meeting with South Korean leader instead of wasting time in limousine

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, had a busy schedule
during his visit.

Among the various leaders he met on the sidelines of the summit was South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the South Korean Mission in New York. The mission is located close to the UN Headquarters. Roads leading to the UN were closed for vehicular traffic due to security reasons. The NYPD (New York Police Department) has a headache protecting heads of state or government attending the summit. Instead of being stuck in a limousine, President Wickremesinghe and his delegation decided to walk across to the UN building despite the inclement weather.

The president also met members of the Sri Lanka community in New York, where people clamoured to take photographs and selfies with him.

Galle Police cashier remanded for allegedly defrauding Rs. 727,000 from reward money

A police sergeant who worked as the cashier at the Administration Branch of the Galle Police has been remanded till October 5 after being arrested for defrauding more than Rs. 727,000 due to his fellow officers as reward money.

The 58-year-old suspect had been the cashier of the Administration Branch for a long time. In April this year, Rs. 727,150 had been credited to the bank account belonging to the Galle Police from the Police Reward Fund. The station’s accountant had written a cheque for the amount and given it to the suspect. He had then cashed it from a state bank branch on the instructions of his Headquarters Inspector (HQI).

The accountant, however, had looked into the matter after noticing that vouchers from officers who were supposed to have received rewards had not come to him. It was then disclosed that the suspect had cashed the cheque but had not made the payments due to the officers.

Subsequent investigations that were initiated after the accountant complained to the area Superintendent of Police confirmed that the suspect had defrauded the money due to the officers.

Wider political field for field officers; they can contest from any electorate

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on Thursday informed the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government that the government intends to introduce amendments allowing government field officers to contest local government elections from their own electorate. Under existing laws, such officers must contest elections from an electorate other than the one they reside in.

As chairman of the committee, the PM told those present that there were many requests to change the law to allow field officers to contest from their electorates and the necessary legal amendments would be introduced soon.

Meanwhile, the Ministerial Consultative Committee also unanimously decided to cancel nominations submitted for the local council elections. This was on the grounds that candidates who had submitted nominations for the election were facing immense difficulties owing to the postponement of the elections.

Despite agreement, Parliament’s Q&A sessions raise more questions

One of the most frustrating aspects of parliamentary proceedings in recent times has been the way the oral questions and answers session has dragged long past its allotted hour. This is because MPs from both sides waste time raising irrelevant points and making speeches when they should not.

This, in turn, has repeatedly affected the day’s main business. The end result is that time has to be cut down from the speaking time of MPs to make up for the time lost in the morning, with some parliamentarians left with a mere two to three minutes to make their speech for no fault of their own.

The government put its foot down on the matter recently, with Chief Government Whip Prasanna Ranatunga informing the Speaker that government ministers would be released for other duties by 10.30 a.m. since the time allocated for oral questions and answers was one hour starting at 9.30 a.m.

At the meeting of the Parliamentary Business Committee held to decide the House agenda for this week, party leaders decided to strictly observe the one-hour rule for oral questions and answers. Accordingly, it was decided that once the hour allocated for the question and answer session elapsed, any questions that remained unanswered would be moved to the next sitting day.

The new rule came into effect on Tuesday, but problems surfaced immediately. Only five out of nine questions on the agenda that day had been asked by 10.30 a.m. when Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, who had announced the new rule at the start of the day’s proceedings, said all remaining questions would be postponed to the next Parliament date.

Some Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MPs protested, most notably Gampaha District MP Ajith Mannapperuma, whose question on the X-Press Pearl disaster had been among those that were put off for the following day. He protested angrily to the Speaker, who countered that Mr. Mannapperuma’s party leaders too had agreed to the change.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa asked for a compromise. Since this was the first day the rule came into effect and since most MPs had only heard about it from the Speaker that morning, he asked that Parliament continue with the questions only for that day with the consent of the government. Accordingly, the Speaker allowed all remaining questions to be asked since the government agreed.

Problems arose again, however, on the following day, with only three out of eight questions being asked by the time the allotted time ended. This time, SJB MP Chaminda Wijesiri exchanged angry words with Deputy Speaker Ajith Rajapakshe over the postponement of the remaining questions.

Judging by the proceedings over the past week, it seems time management will take some getting used to.

Sad example of lethargy in Easter massacre debate

This week’s two-day parliamentary debate on the Easter Sunday terror attacks and the present national security situation was supposed to garner much interest from both sides.

Though the opposition moved the adjournment debate on Thursday, it was clear by the same evening that, as with previous debates on this most horrible of national tragedies, neither side was serious enough to have a meaningful debate on the many issues that remain unresolved.

Acting Defence Minister Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon, who was making the final speech of the day on Thursday, pointed out that Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) member Niroshan Perera, who had moved the adjournment motion for the opposition, was the sole MP present from the opposition side as he (Tennakoon) was speaking. The government side was no better, with just a solitary state minister on hand to hear Mr. Tennakoon speak. It was a sad example of the lethargy displayed by both sides towards an important debate.