New governor must leave FIU alone to do their job

It is generally known that the Financial Intelligence Unit ( FIU) of the Central Bank decides to act depending on the party in power. When the UNP was in power there was a tendency for them to go behind the culprits known to be SLFPers or vice versa. This is clearly seen from their actions. When the whole country is talking of bond scams, sugar scams, paying for fertiliser shipments never received, illegal asset transfers, unaccounted compensation payments received for maritime disasters, allegations made with evidence of scams in bidding for expressways and so on, the FIU does not seem to have taken any action. Most of these allegations are made with the names of the suspects or in a thinly veiled manner where the FIU can easily decipher the culprit but the FIU appears unmoved and doesn’t seem to have taken any punitive action under the powerful laws that confer them all the authority needed to act independently. The reason for the FIU to be subservient to the Governor may be because it is housed inside Central Bank.

With a new head at the Central Bank, let us hope that the FIU will commence living up-to its expectations and that of the masses and start actively investigating and prosecuting the politicians and their powerful henchmen who have been robbing this country well and truly all these years often taking cover behind Parliamentary privileges and the pliant investigators.

People are eagerly waiting to see if the new Governor leaves the FIU, its Director and the staff alone to do their job with true independence without pushing them around irrespective of against whom the FIU is taking action.