Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption authorities are investigating 16 former Cabinet ministers over alleged abuse of power and financial irregularities, Swarnavahini News reported.

According to the report, the Police Assets Investigation Division has handed over files on the assets of nearly 20 politicians, including former ministers and Members of Parliament, to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), also known as the Bribery Commission.

Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala was quoted as saying that all information uncovered during the police investigations had been forwarded to the Bribery Commission.

The report said the Commission is separately investigating allegations of bribery and corruption involving more than 55 politicians. Investigations are also under way into the assets of more than 500 people across the country, including nearly 60 politicians and former ministers.

Swarnavahini News further reported that several politicians and their associates have been arrested in connection with investigations carried out in recent months. The report did not name the ministers concerned.

No finding of guilt has been established against any of the individuals mentioned in the report, and the investigations are continuing.

Background

The Bribery Commission is the statutory body in Sri Lanka that investigates allegations of bribery and corruption and can institute prosecutions through the Attorney General’s Department. Cases it files are heard by the courts, which decide on guilt or innocence.

The Police Assets Investigation Division looks into the wealth of individuals where there are questions about whether it can be explained by their lawful income. When it completes its inquiries, a file can be passed to the Commission for further action, as the report describes in this case.

The report said the Commission has been given expanded investigative powers under recent legislative reforms aimed at tackling bribery, corruption and illicit wealth accumulation. The text of those reforms and the specific powers involved were not set out in the report.

Investigations of this kind commonly take months or longer before any decision to file charges, and an investigation does not mean that charges will follow.

What it means

For readers, the report indicates the scale of the inquiries now under way, which cover politicians from different levels of government as well as people outside politics. It does not say how many of the cases are likely to reach court or when.

Anyone named in future charge sheets is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and the courts, not the investigating agencies, decide whether allegations are proven.

The next visible steps would be any court filings by the Commission or arrests, which are normally made public through police or court announcements.