Editorial : Corruption here, there, almost everywhere

The worst ever corruption scandals by politicians, public officials and private business magnates from top to bottom and other reasons including waste, abuse and mismanagement of public funds have plunged the Rajapaksa regime into an economic crisis.  It is now borrowing money at commercial interest rates to repay earlier loans amounting to billions of dollars.

The latest racket exposed -- while many more go unexposed – is the import of two containers with about 62,000 litres of ethyl alcohol which is generally used for the production of liquor. The importer, suspected to be an agent of a bigger racketeer or racketeers, had declared that the containers carried turpentine for the manufacture of paint.

The Customs Officers’ Union charged that  officers of the Excise Commissioner’s Department were involved in this racket, which had been going on for some time with officials, politicians or businessmen making millions or getting drunk on corruption, while the country is losing hundreds of millions in public funds. The Customs Officers claim they had seized the containers last Wednesday and were taking them for inspection when top Excise Department officials intervened, causing confusion and chaos as to who was responsible for what. While the Customs officers accuse the Excise Department officials of being involved in various rackets amounting to hundreds of millions of rupees in public funds, similar charges have been made against Customs officials also.

While officials of these two departments were trading charges, the Jathika Hela Urumaya -- a strong ally of the UPFA government -- charged that two ministers also were involved in the ethyl alcohol racket, which was part of widespread corruption. JHU Leader Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thera called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa to take action against the racketeers. But independent analysts are asking why the JHU is remaining in a regime plagued with corruption and deceit. The LSSP, the CP and Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara’s New Left Front – one time champions of the workers and the poor -- have also regularly criticised the UPFA government, of which they are allies. They say they believe it is better to stay in the government and criticise it for any wrong-doing. But independent political analysts ask whether these parties are sacrificing their hallowed principles and values for personal gain, power, prestige and popularity. History has shown that for corruption to be tackled effectively, two institutions need to play a key role. They are the independent Judiciary and the free media. Over the past few years these two institutions have been threatened, politicised, and are virtually being sidelined or eliminated. So without these checks and balances, the path being taken could lead to a corrupt leadership. In parliament this week there was a thundering cross talk when a UNP parliamentarian accused a minister who had come on a bicycle to work for the poor of becoming one of the richest men through fraudulent deals with the houses built by the Premadasa regime for the poor. With corruption here, there and almost everywhere we are more likely to end up as a corruption hub instead of the miracle of Asia.