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The Cabinet recently approved President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Cabinet Memorandum on the implementation of the “National Anti-Corruption Agenda”.
This decision is consistent with the legal, organizational, and strategic anti-corruption framework outlined in the IMF’s technical assistance support report on governance diagnostics.
The National Anti-Corruption Framework includes key actions such as full implementation of the anti-corruption legislation adopted in 2023, the development of an effective action plan, regular reviews of progress every six months, and ensuring adequate budgeting for the action plan. In addition, the framework calls for the development of a clear national anti-corruption strategy for 2025-2029.
The framework also proposes to amend the National Audit Act (No. 19 of 2018) to expand the statutory powers of the Auditor-General.
These include submitting full reports of investigative audits to Parliament and allowing the Auditor-General to authorise criminal investigations into fraud and corruption uncovered through such audits. The framework empowers the Auditor-General to hold senior officials accountable and to impose surcharges on officials who fail to meet oversight and accountability standards, including those responsible for financial management.
The National Anti-Corruption Framework recommends the establishment of a sound asset disclosure and conflict of interest management system.
These include provisions implementing conflict of interest rules and asset disclosure procedures outlined in anti-corruption legislation. The framework will define what constitutes a conflict of interest, require public disclosure, provide guidelines for managing conflicts of interest, impose penalties for officials who fail to comply, and require reporting on relevant performance.
The framework also provides for the establishment of a dedicated website for senior public officials to disclose their assets under the anti-corruption law, and requires semi-annual and annual progress reviews of these processes.
The framework also proposes the development of a national strategy and policy for the recovery of assets obtained through crime and money laundering. This includes providing the necessary support for the effective functioning of the newly empowered Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), ensuring proper handling of investigations and prosecutions, and addressing the identification of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
The National Anti-Corruption Agenda aims to significantly strengthen investigations and prosecutions related to corruption cases. It outlines plans to develop regulations to support transparency in company ownership by establishing a comprehensive beneficial ownership register. To increase transparency in public procurement, the agenda calls for the implementation of a public procurement law that meets international standards and requires the publication of information on procurement contracts exceeding Rs 1 billion.
Other measures include the publication of tax exemptions for all companies and the temporary suspension of the Strategic Development Projects Law until a proper procedure is in place to evaluate investment promotion conditions and proposals. The agenda also emphasizes reforms in public enterprises to ensure a well-trained and independent workforce, while short-term anti-corruption measures are implemented by the government’s Department of Revenue.
Further reforms include the creation of a new management function for the Employees Provident Fund, removing the direct management of the Fund by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The reforms also focus on strengthening corporate control of state-owned banks by improving the selection process for executives and board members and enforcing the standards of the Judicial Service Commission. Also on the agenda is strengthening the right to information provisions to ensure greater transparency and accountability.
The agenda also incorporates recommendations from the IMF’s Second Medium-Term Fund Review, released on May 29, 2024, to strengthen the country’s anti-corruption framework. It recommends taking steps to improve the effectiveness of current anti-corruption efforts by focusing on several key areas.
These include providing support to the Commission for Investigation into Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), improving state revenue management, strengthening financial supervision and management of state assets, and preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
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