Anti corruption day; politicians, the people are watching

With anti-corruption measures being a key issue in Sri Lanka, International Anti Corruption Day today will be of special significance to our country. According to the United Nation the 2016 theme is united against corruption for development, peace and security.   
Figures show that every year about US dollars 1 trillion is paid in bribes while an estimated US dollars 2.6 trillion is stolen annually through corruption – a sum equivalent to more than 5 per cent of the global GDP.    In developing countries, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), funds lost to corruption are estimated at 10 times the amount of official development assistance. Corruption is a serious crime that can undermine social and economic development in all societies. No country, region or community is immune, the UN says.  

This year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UNDP have developed a joint global campaign, focusing on how corruption affects education, health, justice, democracy, prosperity and development. The 2016 joint international campaign focuses on corruption as one of the biggest impediments to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  The UN’s outgoing Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a message says we need to reaffirm our commitment to ending the deceit and dishonesty that threaten the 2030 Agenda and our efforts to achieve peace and prosperity for all on a healthy planet.   

UNODC Executive Director, Yury Fedotov in a message says, the G20 estimates that 90 trillion US dollars in infrastructure investment will be required between 2015 and 2030 to support global growth and development. To protect this investment, corruption’s destructive impact should not be ignored. There needs to be a wholehearted and determined contribution to global anti-corruption efforts from the world’s public and private sectors.    Mr. Fedotov, a high level Russian diplomat says corruption is a direct threat to infrastructure investment. It does not discriminate and impacts rich and poor countries alike; but it is the vulnerable and the weak who suffer most.  
If we do not unite to successfully eliminate corruption, we risk economic growth being slowed and prosperity muzzled. Corruption also corrodes much needed credibility and trust in the rule of law and criminal justice systems and wastes valuable resources.   In Sri Lanka, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government was elected in January last year, with one of its main election pledges being to effectively tackle corruption which, it said had been rampant during the former regime. But as we come close to the second anniversary of the national government and its commitment to good governance, democracy, accountability, transparency and social justice, serious questions are being raised as to how effectively it is tackling corruption.   

The Voice against Corruption one of more than 40 civic action movements that played a major role in the dramatically historic events of January last year, in one of its latest reports says   
that soon after the Central bank bond scam, deputy governors and directors at the Central Bank, increased their salaries by about 110 per cent. The movement’s convener, the outspoken Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna activist Wasantha Samarasinghe, says they recently visited the office of the Police Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) to inquire into the progress on the bond issue. Mr. Samarasinghe said the pay hike for top CBSL officials could be seen as an alleged bribe.  

In an earlier statement Mr. Samarasinghe alleged the 2017 budget had provided incentives to financial institutions that were alleged to be operating unethically. He said Rs.7,500 million had been allocated from the budget for the Housing Development Finance Corporation Bank of Sri Lanka and Rs.3,000 million for investors of the Golden Key Company. He alleged that these financial institutions that went into disarray due to malpractices were being rebuilt with the people’s money. He charged that the government, instead of taking legal action against those involved in malpractice, was providing incentives to them.   
On a day like this we would like to remind the national government that the people acted in a courageous way to change the former regime largely because of the rampant corruption or the plunder of public money by VIP politicians, top officials and political lackeys. This must not happen again.