Daily News Editorial

Recovering stolen public funds

03 January 2017

Special Projects Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama has vowed to introduce a Bill in parliament, not only to punish those who had plundered public funds, but also to enable the government to recover the entire loot. While the Minister's pledge would no doubt be applauded by the general public, it is certainly going to be a herculean task to unravel the stolen billions, as the government has only just found out to its utter embarrassment, while attempting to unearth the hidden assets of former VIPs. Today, as is only too well known, the stolen public funds by politicians have been converted into immovable assets, lying here or abroad, in the form of luxury hotels or real estates. What should be done is to halt the flight of the stolen billions from the country.

Hence before bringing in laws to recover stolen public funds, what the Minister should do is to take measures to plug in the loopholes in the existing laws that allow the plunderers to cover their tracks sufficiently on the trail leading to the accumulated loot. It should take a leaf from Singapore in this respect.That state, as is well known, has zero tolerance for corruption and have advanced in development as a corollary. Here, in Sri Lanka, a lot of noise is made periodically on tackling corruption by politicians, but the canker continues to eat into the vitals of society as a whole.

True, what Dr. Amunugma says makes sense. Merely punishing the culprits by throwing them into prison will not bring the stolen money back into the state coffers. A mechanism should be put in place for the recovery of the plundered money, even by liquidation of the assets. But this is a long drawn out process, as seen from the Golden Key matter. Hence, a more comprehensive piece of legislation should be introduced facilitating the prompt recovery of stolen assets of the state. Today, the focus is on the public funds stolen by politicians. But all transactions where public funds have been callously frittered away should come into the equation and steps taken to recover the money from all the parties involved. Dr. Amunugama would surely have the infamous Hedging Deal as an excellent example to fall back on in his quest for introducing a law to recover public funds that were criminally flushed down the drain.

Be that as it may, today, the government has run into a virtual brick wall in its investigations into the monumental plunder of public funds carried out by the leading lights of the last regime, chiefly due to the lack of stringent laws, leaving the culprits to dare the government to even unearth a single dollar stashed away in foreign banks on pain of severing their own necks. Nay, today those charged for corrupt acts, such as money laundering, and paraded before the courts have taken upon themselves the liberty to act as heroes, brandishing their manacled wrists before the public. And indeed they are being treated as heroes, as demonstrated by their cheering supporters, conveying the message that corruption pays in this country.

What is more, the big fish, against whom serious allegations have been made, are not only breathing the air of freedom but also portraying themselves as the wronged party and pointing the accusing finger at government ministers - all because the laws are bereft of sufficient teeth to rope in the rogues. Hence, as can be seen, those who swindled public funds can afford to be smug, knowing the wheels of justice will grind, oh so slowly, if at all.

While the minister speaks of bringing laws to recover the stolen public funds there is one particular former MP, who also doubled as a Monitoring Minister, well known for his wheeler dealings involving public funds, and who for a brief period was a guest at the state run lodge, is today not only roaming about freely but is also hobnobbing with functionaries of the present government in which Dr.Amunugama is a minister. This worthy, as is now being revealed has been using public funds, running into billions, with gay abandon, with the blessings of the then rulers. What, if ever, steps will the minister take to recover these monumental sums?

What has the minister got to say about one time ministers of a previous government who robbed the state but are left alone once they switch sides to the ruling dispensation? Sauce of the Goose should be Sauce for the Gander. It is time that the whole issue of corruption involving state funds be tackled in earnest. Not just government ministers and officials who manipulate tenders, but the other parties involved in the transaction should be roped in and brought under the scope of the law to be introduced by the minister. A good example in this regard is the numerous unsolicited proposals accepted by the last government, without demur, where astronomical sums were paid to the powers that be as commissions. Down the line it is the public who are made to pay for the kickbacks by way of inflated costs.