Cases on bribery and fraud alone had amounted to 7,800 indictments for the first 8 months of this year, according to an Attorney General’s Department brief to the Sectoral Oversight Committee. The Parliament communique said that the AG’s Department had informed the Oversight Committee that by end 2019, the total number of corruption related cases was expected to reach 10,000. These involve bribery, fraud and related crimes.
The Committee also decided to review the proposed Anti-Corruption Bill at the Committee’s next hearing.Mass Media and Information Ministry officials had informed the Committee that a new law has been drafted regarding the issuance of licenses for private television and radio stations which is due to be submitted to the Cabinet for approval.
These briefings were made at the Oversight Committee meeting in Parliament chaired by Dr. Jayampathi Wickramaratne MP on October 23. MInister Rauff Hakeem, Deputy Minister Karunaratne Paranavithana, MP’s Ali Zaheer Moulana, M.A. Sumanthiran along with several representatives from the Justice Ministry, Mass Media Ministry, Judicial Services Commission and Bar Association of Sri Lanka participated in the session.
The Committee also considered the proposal to demarcate legal staff of the Attorney General’s Department and the Legal Draftsman’s Department as a legal service separate from the public service cadre. The Committee requested the related matters to be expedited, the Parliament communique said. Attention was drawn to establishing a separate service for legal professionals working in other government departments as well.
Committee Chairman Dr. Jayampathi Wickramaratne also asked the relevant agencies and officials to implement, by early 2020, a pilot project to automate the judicial system. The pilot project is expected to be implemented in association with selected District, Magistrate and High Courts.