According to Dr. Wijayadasa Rajapaksa, Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs, and Constitutional Reforms, a new anti-corruption act has been introduced to combat corruption. However, he claims that some members who oppose are members of the party and others are members of the opposition. Simultaneously, the minister claims that some members of the ruling party are also opposed to it. Latest News from Sri Lanka
“Over the last few months, the Ministry of Justice has amended and submitted more than 30 bills to Parliament.” Thousands of cases involving forged documents are currently pending in the courts. We changed the existing laws in this area. The Anti-Bribery and Corruption Commission was established with the aim of preventing bribery and corruption in this country. The people said that the commission was not enough.
There is an opinion that the Bribery Commission is not there to catch sharks, but to catch sprats. That is why we brought a new anti-corruption act to reduce corruption. Some are in favor of that bill, some are in opposition, some people in the government are in favour, some are in opposition, and those in opposition are generally against corruption. But when it comes to the ruling party, that objection disappears.
We brought the anti-corruption law from the government, and the whole country is talking about politicians and government officials being corrupt. But no one talks about what is the alternative to do for that. The way in which politicians get positions is corrupt. The election system in this country is corrupt. We are trying to change the electoral system. For that, we brought the Election Expense Limitation Act. When it was debated, everyone spoke in favor. But the opposition opposed in the parliamentary vote.
We debated the Anti-Corruption Bill for two days. Now there is the third reading or committee session. Regardless of party or opposition, if any public representative has honestly obtained the position of MP to serve the people, this bill cannot be opposed. Everyone says that the system needs to be changed. We are working to change that system.
There are 29,700 cases pending in the high courts of our country. 9800 of them that is 33 percent are cases related to rape and child abuse. We should be ashamed of that in front of the world. When crimes are committed, the law must be enforced. We must do more to prevent crime. There are currently 112,700 cases in the courts of Sri Lanka. It is not a situation that can withstand the judicial system.
In the last six years, if the cases referred to the conciliation boards were also referred to the courts, at least 300,000 more cases would be piled up in the courts. Therefore, we should work to further improve the mediation concept and provide the necessary facilities. The percentage of resolving disputes in land-related special conciliation boards is 70 percent.
Small Claims Courts have been established to hear cases involving financial claims of less than 20 lakh rupees. “Since there are criticisms that the trial of cases in commercial high courts is delayed, steps are being taken to establish another commercial high court and increase the current financial limit for trial cases in commercial high courts from 20 to 30 million rupees,” says the Minister of Justice.
