Eran claims Govt. only brings laws to curb corruption but does not enforce

• Questions if SL needs  Govt. which scuttles law to acquire stolen assets
• Says Anti-Corruption Bill was passed only at  behest of Opposition

Main Opposition SJB Parliam-entarian Eran Wickramaratne yesterday charged that the Government only brings laws to curb corruption but does not enforce them.

“It is time the intelligent people of this country should think of whether such a Government which protects thieves, refrain from expropriating the stolen assets that are in the foreign jurisdictions and withdraw the cases of thieves should ever be elected again in this country,” Wickramaratne told journalists yesterday.

He said that this Government only passes laws and acts to show the country and the world.  The laws brought by this Government will not give any benefit or relief to the country or the people. 

When an Act was passed to restructure the debt of the bankrupt country, it was declared that there was no harm to the people or the workers. But it is an act that would gradually destroy the deposits of the workers who benefit from the EPF and ETF.

The MP who drew attention to the various bills passed by the Government recently and the Government’s response to them said:

A bill was introduced to limit election expenses, but even scheduled elections are not being held. Although the court ordered the holding of the elections, the Government itself sabotaged the holding of the local Government elections without releasing money to EC. Government bragged about an anti-corruption bill against those who have looted public resources. He stressed that this Government would never catch any thief during its rest of the tenure as in the past.

Anti -Corruption bill was passed at the behest of the Opposition amidst disruptions by the Government Ministers and MPs. The anti-corruption bill, which was passed amid the opposition of the Government as a result of intense lobbying by the opposition leader and members of the opposition, will go down in history as a bill passed by the opposition in a democratic country.

The Government had introduced an amendment saying that one and a half years is needed to enforce the ACA. They know very well that this Government will not be in power for the next year and a half, so it is certain that no thief will be caught in the country during that time.

The opposition, as the Government has often requested to support the Government, gave its fullest cooperation to pass the necessary laws for the country. But the Government deliberately prevented the inclusion of clauses in the anti-corruption act, as envisaged in the UN Anti-Corruption Convention, which are very essential for the recovery of stolen assets hidden abroad. The MP said that the opposition hopes to present the necessary amendments in the near future in this regard.

Cases of corruption and irregularities against Government ministers have already been withdrawn. There is a reasonable doubt whether the Government has deliberately delayed the passage of this bill with the aim of withdrawing more cases against other ministers, MPs and cronies. 

Wickramaratne said that as the Anti- Corruption bill was passed at the behest of the Opposition, the Government will not take any meaningful action to prevent large scale corruption or to apprehend its supporters involved in such corrupt acts. So the final losers will be the people of this country.