Bribery Commission DG rejects allegations of involvement in active politics

Sri Lanka’s top anti-graft official on Thursday rejected allegations of his involvement in active politics as “completely false”, saying it was a sinister campaign to tarnish the image of his organisation.

Ranga Dissanayake, the Director General of the Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), said his job “is to uphold the CIABOC mandate without fear or favour”.

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 former high-ranking politicians have been arrested since Dissanayake took over as the DG in January this year.

Dissanayake, a serving High Court judge on secondment to the Commission, denied the allegations made by a former JVP member that he had been a committee member of the ruling NPP’s mother party, JVP.

He rejected the allegations of his involvement in active politics as “completely false”. He said the allegations are to be part of an organised campaign aimed at sabotaging both his work and the role of CIABOC.

“It is very clear the motive, to tarnish the Commission’s image,” Dissanayake said.

He said the Commission lacks resources. “I have only 169 investigating officers and just 31 legal officers with an increasing workload”.

The CIABOC needs around 967 staff, but the Treasury has blocked recruitment, he added.

The current NPP government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake treats its anti-corruption campaign as the main plank of its governance.

Source: PTI
--Agencies