The idea also includes provisions for a National Agenda Against Corruption, full implementation of the Anti-Corruption Act passed by 2023, preparation of an action plan, review of the progress of the action plan every six months and budgetary allocations for the action plan.
The agenda also includes the creation of a national anti-corruption plan for the period 2025-2029, further expansion of the statutory powers of the Auditor General, and amendment of the National Audit Act No. 19 of 2018.
Amendments are proposed to allow the Auditor-General to share basic information with law enforcement agencies for criminal investigations into corruption and fraud that may be revealed during complex audits before a full report is submitted to Parliament.
Also included in the national agenda are recommendations to empower the auditor to levy additional charges in respect of officers including chief accounting officers who fail to discharge their proper responsibilities of monitoring and accountability.
Proposals regarding an effective and transparent asset disclosure and institutional framework for compliance are also included in the national agenda.
The anti-corruption law also includes provisions for implementing the scheme for disclosure of assets, providing guidelines for managing conflicts of interest and punishing officials who fail to do so.
Also, as an anti-corruption law, arrangements have been made to launch a website for senior citizens to publish these property details and a condition has been mentioned that the program should be reviewed once in six months or once a year.
Efforts have also been made to develop national procedures and policies for the recovery of assets obtained through crime and money laundering. For this, as per the new powers given to the Bribery Commission, providing necessary support for proper functioning and proper prosecution and punishment through new investigations, identification of Politically Exposed Persons are also included in this.
The National Agenda also makes provision for strengthening investigations and prosecutions of corruption cases. This would lead to the creation of norms to facilitate access to information about a company’s ownership and the creation of a registry for public use to improve transparency.
In order to ensure transparency during public procurement activities, the anti-corruption agenda states to implement the Public Procurement Law according to international standards and disclose information on more than one billion procurement contracts.
Possible actions include publicizing the names of tax-exempt companies, temporary suspension of the Strategic Development Plan Act until a proper process for investment promotion and evaluation of proposals is developed, restructuring of state-owned enterprises to have trained and independent personnel, and temporary anti-corruption measures within revenue-generating state-owned enterprises. .
It also includes proposals to establish a new management structure for the Provident Fund to end direct management by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, create a cooperative governance structure among state-owned banks by improving the selection process for executive and supervisory board members, and strengthen the Judicial Service Commission.
The National Anti-Corruption Agenda also includes provisions on strengthening the right to information.
