PRECIFAC hands over 144 petitions to FCID, CIABoC and CID

By Shanika Sriyananda

The anti-corruption commission has handed over 144 petitions on fraud and corruption to the Financial Crime Investigation Division (FCID), Commission to Investigate Allegations on Bribery or Corruption (CIABoC) and the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) to carry out further investigations, its Secretary H.W. Gunadasa said.

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power (PRECIFAC), which has been given a one-month extension till 3 December, is now in the process of preparing the final overall performances report and 17 final reports on large-scale corruption, fraud and misuse of power and state funds.

“We got nearly 1,600 petitions and under our mandate we can investigate only 34 cases on large-scale fraud, corruption and misuse of power,” he told the Daily FT.

According to Gunadasa, 68, 47 and 20 petitions on fraud and corruption have been referred to the CIABoC, FCID and CID respectively.

“These cases do not come under our mandate and these institutions will commence their own investigations into those 144 cases soon,” he said, adding that they were now able to complete all pending reports before PRECIFAC’s third extension ends on 3 December.

PRECIFAC has already handed over 17 final reports on large-scale fraud and corruption to the President for further legal action.