6 October 2022 07:39 pm Views - 1480
The Anti-corruption Bill , evolved in conformity with the UN Convention on Corruption has been sent to the Attorney General for clearance before presentation in Parliament for enactment, a Minister said today.
The Bill, if enacted by the House, will provide for the establishment of a fully fledged bribery commission with powers and autonomy to deal with corruption. It will have full time serving commissioners to carry out investigations. Also, the commission will have authority to examine declarations of assets and liabilities.
Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told Daily Mirror that all the UN provisions had been incorporated in it.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also envisaged the need to enact such a law to curb corruption for the implementation of its programme with Sri Lanka.
The UN Convention covers five main areas: preventive measures, criminalization and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange.
The Convention covers many different forms of corruption, such as bribery, trading in influence, abuse of functions, and various acts of corruption in the private sector. (Kelum Bandara)