Corruption comes in many shades and hues; no political party immune

Fisheries, Aquatic and Ocean Resources Minister Ramalingam Chandrasekar this week made some strong comments against corruption, stating that there will be no forgiveness for politicians who have engaged in bribery, fraud and looting of public assets. 

“They will never escape the clutches of the law,” Chandrasekar said while addressing the public during the inauguration ceremony of the Colombuthurai Jetty, Jaffna reconstruction project.    

He added that the NPP is determined to eradicate bribery, corruption, and fraud in this country. “Those involved are now fearful. The judiciary has been granted full freedom, and there will be no political interference. There will be no escape for the corrupt,” he said.

The NPP came to power on a strong anti-corruption platform with promises to end corruption and punish wrongdoers. In the past year several former ministers, MPs as well as officials have been hauled up before courts over various allegations of corruption. There have been few indictments and convictions but in most of those cases the processes were started during the previous Governments. Words such as corruption and bribery can be easily thrown about but what constitutes corruption is not that straightforward. For many in the NPP, corruption only means the misappropriation of public funds and misuse of public resources but corruption runs much deeper and the JVP-led NPP is not immune from corruption.

If politicians extort money from companies by threatening trade union action, that is also corruption. If an elected official uses the floor of parliament to push agendas of those who reward them with money and other incentives, that is corruption too. If one admits their child to a popular school using their political contacts that could involve a case of bribery or corruption. And there are many such examples.

It’s no secret that the NPP was backed by several big businesses in the country who funded its election campaigns. Big businesses backing political parties are nothing new and once a party of their choice takes office, it is usually payback time with lucrative government contracts given so that they can recover money spent on politicians/political parties during their campaigns. The NPP for all its show of transparency has not been transparent in the manner in which it has been awarding tenders, leasing lands and many such things.

What we see is a cabinet decision made for procurements, and that the contract has been awarded to the lowest bidder and leased to this and that company for some development project but details of how these so-called lowest bidders were chosen is sketchy. There have been several instances where some tenders awarded had to be withdrawn after the political-business connection became public, thanks mainly to social media exposures.

The United Nations Convention against Corruption states that “Each State Party shall also consider taking appropriate legislative and administrative measures, consistent with the objectives of this Convention and in accordance with the fundamental principles of its domestic law, to enhance transparency in the funding of candidatures for elected public office and, where applicable, the funding of political parties.”

No political party is transparent about its donors and this includes the JVP which for years has been secretive about who funds it. The public are expected to believe that they live on the generous donations by their supporters but this is a story that is fast losing ground.

The recent fiasco over the assets declaration of Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe has revealed the assets of many politicians including those in the NPP. For a party that came to power selling poverty, their assets ran into millions whereas voters were hoodwinked into believing they are voting for people who understand the problems faced by the downtrodden, because the majority of party cadres lived on handouts and the goodwill of their supporters. Looking at the bank balances and assets of most, this story of humble beginnings and subsidised living is a hard sell.

While it’s welcome that some in the JVP/NPP are shouting themselves hoarse over corruption of their political opponents, a little introspection may reveal what’s on the inside is a lot more sordid than what the public have been led to believe.