After years of long pursuit, the Anti-Corruption Bill ‒ a landmark piece of legislation defining measures to reduce corruption and vulnerabilities by improving fiscal transparency and public financial management was finally approved by the Cabinet of Ministers Monday to proceed with the next steps.

The move is a result of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package, amidst the ongoing economic crisis. Such a Bill was long overdue and should have ideally come as a result of domestic compulsions rather than an international compulsion.

“Clearance of the Attorney General has been granted for the draft bill prepared by the Legal Draftsman. The Cabinet-approved legislation will now be gazetted as a Bill and thereafter presented in Parliament,” Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Minister Bandula Gunawardena said at the post-Cabinet meeting media briefing yesterday.

He said the IMF has urged Sri Lanka to reduce corruption and vulnerabilities by improving fiscal transparency and public financial management, introducing a stronger anti-corruption legal framework and conducting in-depth governance diagnostic, whilst, in turn, the agency will provide an extended fund facility of $ 2.9 billion.

On 7 March, IMF announced that it's Executive Board on 20 March (Monday) will consider the approval of the Staff Level Agreement reached with the Sri Lankan Government in September last year for a $ 2.9 billion four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program.

“This will be a great opportunity to address the systemic corruption in Sri Lanka in a multitude of spheres and will also benefit to secure the IMF bailout. The Government must demonstrate its willingness for fiscal transparency and reduction in corruption to gain a degree of credibility with international financial partners. A strong anti-corruption legal framework would in this regard be an absolute necessity for debt restructuring efforts,” Gunawardena said.

On 8 February, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said the Anti-Corruption Bill will be introduced and the Government is taking steps to include the ‘Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative (StAR)’ in this Bill, together with the World Bank and the United Nations.

Analysts said the Anti-corruption Bill shouldn't just be a checkbox exercise to get access to foreign aid. It must be a chance to confront the systemic corruption that has not only made it possible for the political elites to be corrupt but also encouraged it and given them impunity for their actions.

The proposal to this effect submitted by Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reform Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers at its meeting on Monday.

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