Corruption war: CIABOC to recruit 200 experts
Accountants, IT and banking experts to assist investigations
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption ( CIABOC) is to recruit professionals with experience in different specialised fields to conduct investigations.
In a departure from the existing practice of only using Police officers, the new move will include the recruitment of experts in accountancy, bond issues, engineering, information technology, banking, securities exchange and international trade, CIABOC's Director General Sarath Jayamanna told the Sunday Times.
He said that, for instance, Singapore and Hong Kong had been able to successfully prosecute those involved in bribery or corruption with the help of professional expertise. According to Mr. Jayamanne, the new unit will comprise about 200 experts. He added that during the 23-year history of the Commission, professionals or graduates had not been used in investigations.
An area where the new unit of professionals would be most useful, Mr Jayamanna said, was when CIABOC probes were conducted on Government tenders – an area from which there are a substantial number of complaints.
The approval of the Management Service Department has already been obtained for the recruitment plan. Besides professionals with expertise, Mr Jayamanna said the CIABOC would also recruit about 25 officers to be deployed for prevention ion of bribery y and about ten en as lega a l officers.