Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)

Conceptual change imperative to tackle country's bribery, corruption: PRECIFAC

- By Chandani Kirinde

The Presidenti­al Commission of Inquiry to Investigat­e and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges ( PRECIFAC) said a conceptual change is needed to tackle bribery and corruption in the country.

It said that acts of bribery and corruption in the country have become “normalised” in the eyes of the public, with abuse of State resources and privileges viewed in a manner which hinders eradicatio­n of these evils from society.

The Commission which handed over its final report to President Maithripal­a Sirisena earlier this month, concluded that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa had, by their actions while in office, caused losses to the country running into millions of rupees.

The main accusation­s against the former President were in relation to causing losses to the State owed Independen­t Television Network (ITN) running into over Rs 102 million, by using political influence to obtain free airtime for election prop- aganda material during the 2015 presidenti­al election.

The charges against the former Defense Secretary were in relation to the Avant Garde 'Floating Armoury' case.

The Commission’s report was presented to Parliament this week and made public.

It detailed the systemic weaknesses that have resulted in no substantia­l inroads being made to minimise corruption and bribery in the country.

“Aggressive marketing tactics adopted by businesses as well as their promotion through the media, people are being promoted to obtain these goods at any cost. When they have no financial means to obtain such goods, they then go to extremes to find money, even using illegal methods,” the Commission said.

It added, there is no counter propaganda activity to counter this aggressive marketing tactics and educate people that using ill- gotten money has serious repercussi­ons, not only on their families, but on society as a whole.

“Unfortunat­ely, there are many wrong concepts ingrained in the people of this country at present. To counter this, there must be a more aggressive drive by the authoritie­s, so that it can be ingrained in people that obtaining ill-gotten wealth will not pay,” the Report said.

The Commission said that neither a new institutio­n nor large amounts of money is needed to launch an effective anti-corruption drive that would impress upon the public, but a sincere effort is needed to awaken them to the dangers of corruption.

The Commission has recommend that new laws be promulgate­d to ensure that all television stations devote a certain amount of time to air anti-corruption programmes and that, such laws can be made under the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporatio­n Act of 1982. If not, relevant officials should discuss with television stations to voluntaril­y conduct such programmes.

The Commission also said that, as mobile phones are widely used, the Short Message Service (SMS) can be used to educate people on the evils of bribery and corruption.

Anti- corruption programmes must be done in a manner so that it can be embedded in children that bribery and corruption are wrong, so that the scourge of corruption can be minimised, it added.

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