COLOMBO (Oct 8) — Sri Lanka will assign officers from various government services and state corporations to its main anti-corruption body, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), in a bid to improve its efficiency and capacity.
The move comes a week after CIABOC Director General Ranga Dissanayake publicly admitted that the commission was struggling with limited manpower and resources despite an expanding workload.
According to a statement released after Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, personnel from the police, audit service, provincial administration, and state corporations will be deputed to CIABOC on a secondment basis.
The government said the decision aims to “maintain efficiency and ensure effective handling of corruption cases”, as the commission’s caseload continues to grow amid heightened scrutiny of governance and public spending.
Sri Lanka has faced increasing domestic and international pressure to strengthen anti-graft mechanisms following revelations of large-scale corruption during and after its 2022 economic crisis.
CIABOC, established in 1994, is mandated to investigate and prosecute cases of bribery, corruption, and unexplained wealth involving public officials. However, the body has long been criticised for slow investigations and lack of autonomy.
Officials said that the inclusion of personnel from diverse state services is expected to bring specialised skills and help the commission expedite probes into public sector corruption.