News
Presidential candidates’ asset declarations are out but no mechanism to check accuracy
View(s):By Tharushi Weerasinghe
The asset declarations of all the presidential candidates for the upcoming election was made public last Thursday by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC). However, currently there is no mechanism through which the accuracy of asset declarations of public officials and election candidates can be verified.
The public release of the information on the candidates, a move that civil society organisations have been pushing for for years, follows an earlier release of asset declarations of high-ranking and local government officials, and even members of the judiciary.
Yet, CIABOC stated that verification is currently impossible since they would have to manually cross-check each declaration, with over 400,000 submissions expected during local polls.
“The only certification available at this point is that the submitter signs the declaration confirming the authenticity and a lawyer or Justice of Peace confirms the validity of the signature,” noted an official at CIABOC who wished to remain anonymous.
Sections 79 to 92 of the Anti-Corruption Act No.9 of 2023 stipulates the legal provisions on the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities. The supplementary regulations state that a centralised electronic system has to be installed by CIABOC to facilitate the receipt and verification of the declarations
of assets and liabilities.
However, CIABOC claims they have not had sufficient human resources or time to introduce these systems as the Asset Declaration Directorate is a new addition to CIABOC’s infrastructure. “Even though the law was operationalised last September the current Commission came in in January this year, and recruitments were closed by then,” the source said.
The process of collecting declarations, which was expedited to meet IMF benchmarks and deadlines by June 1, had to be conducted with staff pulled in from other divisions of the CIABOC. “To do this continuously we have to hire people.” A human resource recruitment proposal on this has been submitted to the Treasury.
The source said that processes were underway to create the mechanism and the centralised electronic system that will combine institutions like the Inland Revenue Department, Customs Department and more to put the verification processes in place. “World Bank has provided us with technical expertise on the matter and the procurement processes for the systems are starting.” Pertinent questions on whether the government cloud will be used and other technical matters will be answered in collaboration with other governmental agencies like CERT and ICTA.
Before the law in 2023 was introduced, the heads of institutions were charged with collecting and verifying information on the declarations. Now, heads of institutions, and for presidential candidates the Election Commission, are merely collection points. “We send the documents through to CIABOC without even opening them,” confirmed Saman Shri Rathnayake, the Commissioner General of the Election Commission.
However, the allegations of misrepresentation have already entered political debates and campaigns.
“Asset declaration systems must consider two important angles – public access for accountability, and the access that authorities should have,” noted Sankhitha Gunaratne, Head of Governance and Anti-Corruption at Verité Research. The Anti-Corruption Bill of 2023 refers to red flags and verification because CIABOC will have access to them all, now. Historically, asset declarations were mostly looked at, only when there was a complaint. The Act also prescribes penalties for those who misrepresent information or present inaccurate records on their declarations.
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