Sri Lanka hunts for ex-regime's secret deposits

The new government of Sri Lanka which is on a witch hunt to arrest  fraud cashing in   by the previous government officials and politician has sought help from Saudi Arabia and Swiss to see if they have banked their illegally earned money there.

Permission from the Switzerland and Saudi Arabian governments to check secret bank accounts of those who had deposited money swindled from development projects would be requested by the relevant authorities, Deputy Minister of Justice Sujeewa Senasinghe said speaking at a rally

MP Senasinghe alleged that what he called fraudulent projects, including the Mattala Airport, Hambantota Harbor, and Norochcholai Coal Power Plant were launched by the former government in order to skim off money which certain persons had deposited in Swiss and Saudi Arabian bank accounts.

“So far around 2000 complaints have been lodged with the BC against henchmen of previous government. In the past the BC was also full of corrupt persons. But today people are not allowed to do such things in this country,” he said.

He added that the present government had appointed a new Director General of the Bribery Commission and was recruiting new inspectors to the BC under a new legal procedure in order to speed up the process of bringing the culprits to book.

According to  Senasinghe, it might take six months to one year to catch the leading figures behind the corruption and bribery since the legal the accepted procedures were being adhered to by the government. 

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