By The Pulseline News Desk
A decade-old backlog of corruption investigations has emerged as a major challenge for the country’s anti-graft authorities, with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) now deploying a dedicated unit to clear thousands of legacy files while continuing to investigate new complaints.
CIABOC Director General Ranga Dissanayake told the Committee on Public Finance (COPF), chaired by MP Harsha de Silva, that the Commission had inherited a “massive backlog” of old files, many dating back to around 2015, making it necessary to give them priority before they were lost to legal time limits.
The admission came amid questions over whether concentrating resources on old cases could result in more recent allegations of bribery and corruption being pushed aside.
Dissanayake said the decision to prioritise the older cases was driven largely by the need to prevent them from becoming legally time-barred.
A backlog stretching back to 2015
According to Dissanayake, a substantial portion of the Commission’s existing workload originated from Presidential Commissions established around 2015.
“An enormous number of files that came from those 2015 Presidential Commissions remained unresolved,” he told the committee.
He also disclosed that around 70 major cases had remained stagnant after 2019, adding another layer to the backlog confronting the anti-corruption body.
The scale and age of the files meant that simply processing cases in the order in which complaints were received could have resulted in older investigations being abandoned altogether.
“When I looked at the statistics upon assuming office, the thing I noticed was a large number of very old files from a long time back,” Dissanayake said.
The Commission subsequently established a special unit dedicated to dealing with these legacy cases.
Why old cases became an immediate priority
The decision reflects a practical problem confronting any institution dealing with a large investigative backlog, which is that cases that have remained dormant for years can eventually become impossible to prosecute if statutory or procedural time limits expire.
For CIABOC, the issue is particularly significant because many of the files relate to investigations initiated years ago, leaving investigators with the task of revisiting evidence and allegations that have remained unresolved for extended periods.
Dissanayake indicated that the Commission therefore considered the older files an immediate priority.
The move also highlights the scale of the institutional delays that have accumulated within Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption enforcement system.
New complaints will not be ignored
The focus on legacy files has raised concerns that recent complaints could face further delays.
However, Dissanayake told the committee that CIABOC was balancing its resources to ensure that both old and new investigations continue simultaneously.
The Director General sought to reassure lawmakers that clearing the backlog would not mean suspending action on current allegations.
The Commission’s approach is therefore aimed at dealing with two competing pressures – clearing files that have been stalled for years while ensuring that new complaints do not become tomorrow’s backlog.
One-month deadline replaces years of delay
CIABOC has also introduced tighter deadlines for preliminary inquiries to prevent the accumulation of another generation of unresolved cases.
Dissanayake said preliminary inquiries that previously took as long as nine years must now be completed within one month.
The move represents a significant shift from an investigative process in which preliminary stages could remain open for years without reaching a clear conclusion.
The new timeframe is intended to force cases through the initial assessment stage more quickly and allow the Commission to determine whether further investigation or legal action is warranted.
Bigger challenge for Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption drive
The discussion before COPF provides a glimpse into one of the less visible problems facing Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption campaign.
The effectiveness of an anti-corruption institution is not determined solely by the number of complaints it receives or investigations it launches. Its ability to complete investigations within a reasonable period and take cases forward before legal deadlines expire is equally critical.
The existence of many unresolved files dating back to 2015 suggests that the problem is not simply a lack of new investigations, but the accumulation of unfinished work over successive years.
CIABOC’s decision to create a dedicated unit for legacy files is an attempt to address that accumulated burden without allowing current complaints to fall through the same cracks.
The new one-month target for preliminary inquiries is also aimed at changing the culture of prolonged investigations.
For the Commission, the test now will be whether these measures can convert a long-standing backlog into completed investigations while ensuring that today’s corruption complaints do not become another decade-old problem for a future administration to inherit.
Leave a comment