No quick fixes for corruption

Editorial-February 28, 2015

There are many Lankans disgusted to the core with the rampant corruption and profligacy of the ousted Mahinda Rajapaksa administration that are publicly and bitterly complaining that no big fish have been netted or locked up bar the soap opera-type arrest, remanding and bailing of former Minister Wimal Weerawansa’s wife over a relatively minor offence. Ministers John Amaratunga who is responsible for the police and Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne added their voices to the cacophony last week demanding speedy action by the police on the bribery and corruption front. There has also been the promise of more exposures. The country has been told that `suspects’ like Duminda Silva, Sajin de Vass Gunawardene, Mahindananda Aluthgamage and the former Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrema against whom complaints have been made or there was information have been `grilled.’ That obviously has not satisfied the critics from the JVP, JHU and, indeed from among the general public who are looking, or shall we say lusting, for very much more blue blood.

We need not labor the point that it is easier to make these demands than to act on them. Whenever there are complaints, the law enforcement agencies cannot rush and make blanket arrests. There has to be solid evidence to sustain successful prosecutions. It is worth remembering that only a very small percentage of those who are prosecuted in our criminal courts are convicted. How much harder then to nail VIP crooks, many politicians among them, who surely took precautions to cover their tracks whatever grand larceny they were guilty of committing. Investigations that must be thorough and painstaking must necessarily be slow. That does not mean that they should remain open for several years, as in the case of the Lasantha Wickrematunga assassination with no development of any value up to now. Sadly, a VVIP is supposed to have named a suspect, not once but six times, in conversations with Wickrematunga’s brother. If the authorities had that kind of evidence/information why was there no follow through? Obviously mega commission takers will not bring their loot into the country and flaunt it openly but would salt such ill-gotten gains in some haven or another. Countries providing safe parking for tainted money do not easily cooperate with corruption investigations which makes the nailing of offenders that much more difficult. But the Inland Revenue Department, given the necessary will, can ask searching questions from those under the searchlight.

With regard to Weerawansa’s wife’s passport, the public surely is entitled to know why she was issued a diplomatic passport in the first place. Is it that all ministers’ wives are entitled to that privilege? If so why? We can see a justification if they are accompanying their husbands on official visits but not if they are going shopping to Singapore, Bangkok or wherever. Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, then an opposition MP, revealed in parliament last year that some 2,872 diplomatic passports have been issued to various beneficiaries regardless of what one report called "exclusivity of a list of pre-approved personalities." His statement was not contradicted. The whole business smacks of dispensing of favour and deserves a re-look. President Maithripala Sirisena, as we commented last week, has already set a good example by making his overseas visits on scheduled commercial flights without large retinues of hangers-on. We are told that the prime minister’s wife went abroad a few days ago without any fuss or bother like any other normal passenger waving off efforts to accord her special treatment. These are examples that deserve emulation.

The country is also saddled with the lack of skilled investigators to pursue the many rogues that abound in our society. The return of Mr. Thilak Karunaratne as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission has been widely welcomed by most stock market participants. Karunaratne resigned after his predecessor, Ms. Indrani Sugathadasa (the wife of the then president’s secretary), also threw in the towel allegedly over pressures relating to investigation of stock market manipulation. Dr. Harsha de Silva, the Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs who called himself the "chap who is running the policy shop" told a gathering at the Colombo Stock Exchange last week that the CSE had the government’s full backing and called on the regulator to make the market one that was free of interference and manipulation. Karunaratne’s main responsibility as the head of the SEC was to ensure that the market was free from

interference, that manipulation is completely and absolutely removed, wrongdoers punished, thus creating an environment that would attract market participants knowing that they have an equal chance of "making or losing money," he said. Given some of the shady goings-on in the past, the new regulatory order is most welcome.

We run a report today that Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, who was in London for the Magna Carta Law Conference had told our correspondent that there is no delay in tackling the bribery and corruption issue. He had alleged that the Bribery Commission had been defunct for over a decade and the new Director-General who had been appointed by the present administration had got things moving. Also a special unit of the CID had been set up to deal with this problem and the police and the Attorney General’s Department has been told to conduct impartial inquiries and implement the law. These are not directions that need to be given. The concerned agencies should have done exactly that without being told. But given that persons obligated to the regime had been appointed to some key positions, a reluctance to displease their masters had been all too visible in the past.

A major problem is that given the 100-day program which was a major plank in the Sirisena platform, the public expects quick results. This is particularly true about bringing rogues who once ruled the roost to book. Apart from the bribery and corruption sphere, delivery is going to be difficult in many other areas as well. We hear conflicting statements from leaders of various constituents of government about when Parliament is going to be dissolved and when the parliamentary election is going to be held. Ven. Madulawawe Sobhitha whose National Movement for a Just Society played a major role in toppling what many thought was an invincible regime says that there is no hurry to have the election which is due in April next year. There are others who are convinced that the next election should not be fought under the present PR system. How the president will ensure an equitable distribution of parliamentary seats between the SLFP he leads and the UNP which played a major and decisive role in electing him remains to be seen. And what is Mahinda Rajapksa going to do – will he or won’t he? The developing scenario is not easy to read and the weeks and months ahead are going to be interesting times for watchers of the political scene.