Criminal investigators face many challenges: President’s Secretary

Secretary to the President, Austin Fernando, recently emphasised the importance of the tasks entrusted to criminal investigation officials. 

He said that their task was of immense importance to the quest for justice and fighting crime, corruption and fraud.

Outlining the difficulties and challenges faced by officials, Fernando said that when there was a political regime changed, the criminal investigating officers conducting inquires into allegations of corruption and fraud ran into hurdles as sometimes frauds were committed with the alleged involvement of some in the bureaucracy, police, law enforcement services, judicial process and media. He said this while addressing the Regional High Level Meeting on the establishment of a Regional Platform for the Sharing of Criminal Intelligence in South Asia. 

The specific objective of the meeting was to consider and agree on the viability and structure of a regional platform for the sharing of criminal intelligence to prevent and combat transnational organised crime in South Asia.

Transnational organised crime issues have multilateral and global dimensions which require global and regional cooperation to counter them.

Experts from the six member states - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka - Secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order and Southern Development Jagath P. Wijeweera, Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya, the Director of the Presidential Task Force for Drug Prevention Dr. Samantha Kumara Kithalawaarachchi and officials of the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) participated in this meeting.