Busting corruption British style

Anti-corruption secretariat to get facelift to UK-style Serious Fraud Office 

PM Cabinet paper approved to streamline investigation framework dealing with FCID

By Uditha Jayasinghe 

Changes in the Government’s anti-corruption policy are in the offing, with Cabinet this week deciding to maintain the Secretariat that the Financial Crimes Investigation Department (FCID) operates under until a British-style Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is established. 

The Government has paid attention to restructuring the anti-corruption institutional structure and it has been proposed to establish a fully powered Serious Fraud Office in Sri Lanka, which is similar to the Serious Frauds Office in United Kingdom, according to the Cabinet paper.  

The proposal made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to continue the operations of the above Secretariat, which was established in 2015, until such a Serious Fraud Office is introduced, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, Media Minister Gayantha Karunathilake told reporters at the weekly Cabinet briefing.

Shortly after the present Government came into power a Gazette notification was issued establishing a sub-committee and a Secretariat that would oversee the functions of the FCID. The sub-committee was initially tasked with reviewing and deciding what cases would go before the FCID. 

On Monday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament the Cabinet subcommittee which established the FCID would be terminated.

Answering a question raised by UPFA Kandy District MP Keheliya Rambukwella during the 2017 Budget debate, the Prime Minister informed Parliament that the subcommittee had not held a meeting for almost a year, therefore it would be abolished, leaving the fraud complaint secretariat to channel complaints to the Police.

MP Rambukwella said the Cabinet had appointed a subcommittee which later established the FCID. The FCID was to receive instructions from the Premier. 

Denying Rambukwella’s statement that his office had been instructing the FCID, the Prime Minister said a Gazette had been published to enable the channelling of complaints received by the Police to the FCID. 

“Therefore, we will abolish the subcommittee and let the Secretariat continue,” said Wickremesinghe.    

The British SFO is a specialist prosecuting authority tackling the top levels of serious or complex fraud, bribery and corruption. It is part of the UK criminal justice system covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not Scotland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands. The SFO takes on a small number of large economic crime cases and works with other law enforcement partners to tackle the challenges faced from serious and organised crime, in line with the UK Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy.