From system change to no system

For a Government that came to power promising to end corruption and usher in an era of transparency and accountability, it has shown little enthusiasm for investigating cases involving its own members.

Take the case of the missing $ 2.5 million. The only reason the matter remains alive is because the Committee on Public Finance (CoPF), headed by SJB MP Dr. Harsha

de Silva, has been pushing for a proper inquiry. A few days ago, when the Committee met, the Finance Ministry submitted a report pertaining to the missing funds, which were meant to be paid as an instalment towards a bilateral debt repayment to Australia but were instead diverted to a third-party account by cybercriminals posing as officials of the Australian Government’s export credit agency, Export Finance Australia (EFA).

The contents of the report have not been fully made public, but what it has revealed is the Finance Ministry doing its part to pass the buck to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). The CBSL, in turn, has disputed the Finance Ministry’s version of events and has said it will submit its own report on the incident to the Committee shortly.

So far, the CBSL has maintained that it acted solely as the Government’s banker in processing debt repayments, while the Finance Ministry has said the CBSL failed to pay adequate attention to transactions carrying potential anti-money laundering (AML) concerns and did not provide information that could have assisted in identifying such risks in relation to the fraudulent transaction.

While the tug-of-war between the Finance Ministry and the CBSL may continue for some time, it is becoming increasingly clear that the money may never be recovered, and it will ultimately be the public that pays the price for the carelessness and inefficiency of the authorities concerned. The death of a Finance Ministry official, allegedly by suicide, has fuelled considerable speculation surrounding the missing millions and heightened the need for greater transparency.

However, rather than addressing these concerns directly, those in Government have sought to shift blame elsewhere, with no one appearing willing to take responsibility for the fiasco. Calls for the resignation of Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma, a political appointee placed by the President in this highly sensitive and important position, have been ignored, and the Government appears determined to carry on in a business-as-usual manner.

The problem here is the double standard displayed by the ruling National People’s Power (NPP). Had the roles been reversed and another party been in power, many on the current Government benches would likely have been shouting from the rooftops that the money had either been siphoned into someone’s overseas account or diverted to a political party fund.

The same applies to several other cases in which individuals linked to the NPP have allegedly been associated with questionable transactions, including the recent controversy over the import of substandard coal, which reportedly caused losses amounting to millions of rupees in public funds, while burdening electricity consumers. Instead of addressing the specific allegations, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake chose to appoint a Presidential Commission to examine all coal imports, seemingly hoping that any past instances of wrongdoing uncovered would make the individual at the centre of the current controversy appear less culpable by comparison.

The NPP and its double speak are symbolic of what continues to ail the country. Previous administrations set the bar so low through mismanagement and corruption that stealing less than one’s predecessors has somehow become an acceptable benchmark. Whether it is the missing dollars or the coal imports controversy, those in power appear unwilling to look inward, preferring instead to point fingers elsewhere. From promises of system change, the NPP has drifted towards no system at all.