New Campaign Finance Bill in the offing

Amounts spent on election campaigns and their sources will have to be declared

• The Former President was misled by black money holders who financed his campaign
• The Justice Minister blamed the Excise Department, Customs for their failure to collect revenue 

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

A Campaign Finance Bill under which it will be made compulsory for candidates of all elections to publish how much they spend for their election campaigns and the sources from which they get funds for their respective campaigns will be introduced soon, Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said yesterday.   

“Everyone who contests at presidential, parliamentary, provincial council and local government elections will be legally bound to reveal how much they spend for their campaigns and the sources from which they receive funds under this new bill,” the Minister said.  “The Former President was misled by black money holders who financed his campaign.

It was them who made the former President to introduce tax cuts. Anyone including a child can understand what would happen to a country which loses Rs. 800 billion as tax cuts. Accordingly a president and members of Parliament are elected through fraudulent acts. They are bought over by black money holders,” he added. The Minister slammed the Excise Department, Customs for their failure to collect revenue for the country. He slammed the Bribery Commission for being ineffective. “I have filed several complaints with the Bribery Commission and nothing has been done about them to this date,” he said while highlighting that the anti-corruption bill will be presented to the House soon. “A new effective Bribery Commission will be introduced under this Bill,” the Minister said.