The Island Editorial

Three cheers for CIABOC

17th October 2015

Some people usually don’t have a civil word to say about the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC). But, it earned public plaudits on Thursday, when it arrested three Customs officers for accepting a bribe of Rs. 125 mn in Colombo. In fact, ‘even the ranks of Tuscany could scarce forbear to cheer’.

 

All institutions, both public and private, are full of crooks who wouldn’t even scruple to cheat their mothers if they could make money. The Customs Department has its own share of corrupt elements who have brought it into disrepute.

 

Governments keep increasing indirect taxes even on essential commodities at the expense of the poor when the state loses revenue due to corruption among other things. If the aforesaid Customs officers had been able to do what they had taken the bribe for, the state coffers would have lost millions of rupees. How much the state loses annually due to corruption in the Customs is anyone’s guess.

 

The second annual Chapman University Survey on 'American Fears' has recently revealed that the Americans are more afraid of a corrupt government than a terrorist attack or bio-warfare. The survey listed the top 10 things that people in the US fear most. The Americans are wise enough to realise the grave danger corruption as well as its crippling impact on the state machinery poses to any society. Future is bleak for a country that does not combat corruption with might and main. Half hearted efforts won’t do.

 

It is high time Sri Lankans learnt to fear corruption as their American counterparts rightly do and mobilise themselves to combat the menace without relying on politicians to do that for them.

 

Now that the CIABOC, which was once accused of catching only sprats, has netted three sharks will it conduct an investigation if a complaint is made as regards the colossal campaign expenditure incurred by the two main parties, the SLFP and the UNP; will it order their leaders, general secretaries and treasurers to account for their campaign finances?

 

Meanwhile, behind every corrupt deal in the public sector there is a private sector crook. It takes two to tango where mega corrupt deals are concerned. Most of the state-owned cash cows have been sold for a song to some tycoons with political connections. The Supreme Court has declared some of them null and void, but no action has been taken against those responsible for those fraudulent transactions. New laws are needed to enable the CIABOC to probe private sector crooks responsible for state sector corruption.

 

Corruption has eaten into the vitals of Sri Lankan society to such an extent that even Presidents have complained of attempts to bribe them. Chandrika Kumaratunga, while she was the President, said someone had offered her a bribe. President Maithripala Sirisena has also claimed that the tobacco industry tried to bribe him in a bid to scuttle the government moves to introduce tough anti-tobacco laws. No names have been named though those who tried to bribe the heads of state should have been brought to justice immediately. It is a serious offence to offer bribes. Why no complaints were lodged with the CIABOC is the question. Kumaratunga and Sirisena, being two leaders at the forefront of an anti-corruption campaign, ought to name names and call for action at least now. Better late than never!

 

In 1994, the SLFP-led People’s Alliance, the UNP the JVP (whose MP had contested on the Sri Lanka Progressive Front ticket) and others in Parliament joined forces to strip the CIABOC of its power to initiate its own investigations without waiting for complaints to be made. The big guns of these parties are today on a crusade to rid the country of bribery and corruption! Let them be urged to strengthen the CIABOC and create an environment for it to operate free from political pressure.