Sri Lanka to appoint personnel from various services to anti-graft body

Colombo, Oct 8 (PTI) Sri Lanka has decided to appoint personnel to the country's anti-graft commission from the various government services and state corporations to maintain its "efficiency".

This comes a week after the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) Director General Ranga Dissanayake lamented the lack of resources with the anti-corruption body to carry out its increasing workload.

The cabinet on Tuesday decided to appoint personnel from the police, audit, provincial government service and state corporations on secondment to the CIABOC. This is aimed at maintaining efficiency in the commission’s activities, a cabinet note said.

Last week, Dissanayake said his staff was limited to just 167 when the need was for 967 personnel. The commission had only 65 lawyers to handle over 4,600 complaints received between January and the end of August, he said.

Dissanayake is at the centre of a political controversy with the opposition alleging that he is biased against opposition parties due to his past record of being a member of the ruling National People's Power party's mother party, JVP.

Emboldened by the new anti-corruption law adopted in 2023, the commission has come under focus for its renewed vigorous filing of cases, mostly against opposition politicians and public officials.

Several opposition politicians have been arrested as a result of CIABOC investigations.

Dissanayake, a serving High Court judge on secondment to the commission, denied the charge, while the opposition even questioned his suitability on becoming the director general.

He said the public was not aware of the greater independence granted to the CIABOC under the Anti-Corruption Act of 2023 and urged support to eliminate corruption. PTI CORR GRS GRS GRS