යෝජිත නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව (Third Republic Constitution) Chapter XXX

 CHAPTER XXX

 

THE ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION (ACC)

 

249.       (1) There shall be an Anti-corruption Commission (in this Chapter referred to as the “Commission”) consisting of five members appointed by President subject to the provisions of Article 185.

(2) Two of the members shall be retired Judges of Supreme Court or Court of Appeal to whom subparagraph 184(2)(b) does not apply; two members shall be persons with wide experience relating to the investigation of crime; and one member shall be a retired Police officer to whom subparagraph 184(2)(b) does not apply, of not below a Deputy Inspector General of Police.

(3) President shall appoint as Chairman of the Commission, one of the members of the Commission who is retired Judge of Supreme Court or of Court of Appeal.

(4) The quorum for any meeting of the Commission shall be three members.

250.       (1) The Commission shall recruit, to exercise, perform, and discharge its powers, duties, and responsibilities, persons of various qualifications and competencies.

(2) The Commission shall have the power to hire consultants, experts, interns, apprentices, and volunteers on fixed-term contracts.

(3) The Commission may have officers seconded from the public service including the Police, public corporations, and local government service in consultation with Public Service Commission or National Police Commission as the case may be.

(4) The Commission shall have the power to appoint, promote, transfer, and exercise disciplinary control and dismissal of such officers referred to in paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) of this Article.

(5) The Commission in consultation with the Public Service Commission shall decide salaries, allowances, and other privileges of its staff recruited under paragraphs (1), (2) and (3).

(6) The Commission shall adopt guidelines and internal rules to conduct its business and such guidelines and rules shall come into operation by passing it with a Simple Majority in Parliament.

251.       Provisions of Articles 186, 187, 188, 190, 193, 194, 202, 203, 223, and paragraph (2) and (6) of Article 184, paragraph (5) of Article 195 shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to this Commission.

252.       (1) The Commission shall have the following powers, duties, and responsibilities.

 

(a)    To Investigate into allegations of corruption and bribery involving either State entities or private entities;

(b)   To Prosecute against culprits or accused in High Courts, and to appeal to a higher court;

(c)    To arrest culprits or accused in accordance with the law, and detain in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution and law of the country;

(d)   To seize properties and bank accounts in question in accordance with the law;

(e)   To obtain directly or through other institutions Declarations of Assets and Liabilities pertaining to persons mentioned in paragraph 255(1);

(f)     To take photographs, fingerprints or other biometric data of culprits or accused;

(g)    To intercept communication relating to ongoing investigations;

(h)   To obtain restraining orders against property being disposed of, to impound passports, and to impose prohibitions on dealing with property situated outside Sri Lanka;

(i)       To examine persons relating to an ongoing investigation and obtain information of such persons;

(j)       To initiate and be part of joint investigations, and to share information among the joint investigators;

(k)     To get expeditious assistance of Attorney Commission in its investigations or to get legal or expert advice;

(l)      To get expeditious assistance of National Audit Commission in its investigations or to expert advice;

(m)                 To educate the nation on anti-corruption, anti-bribery, good governance, and such ideologies;

(n)                   To get international co-operation, and work with international institutions in accordance with the law.

 

(2) The Commission shall have the right to advise or command Inspector General of Police on such matters of bribery or corruption, and Inspector General of Police shall abide by such order or advice. The Commission shall have the right to get service of police with such ranks as the Commission thinks required to aid its investigations.

(3) The Commission shall have the right to obtain such details as it thinks required for its investigation, relating to persons under its investigation from any State entity including the Inland Revenue Department, Customs, Registrar General of Lands, Department of Motor Traffic, Company Registrar, banks and financial institutions supervised by the Central Bank. The head of such institutions shall be bound to furnish to the Commission such details in required format within the stipulated time period.

(4) The Commission shall have the power to protect informers, whistle-blowers, witnesses, any other person assisting the Commission. The Commission shall protect the identity of such persons.

(5) The Commission shall have the power to initiate, on his own discretion or on a petition received by the Commission, an investigation about a person who seems to have amassed an unexplained wealth, and such person who cannot give logical reasons and facts on how such wealth was accumulated shall be indicted in High Court. If he is proved guilty, all of his assets shall be confiscated and shall be sentenced to not more than twelve years.

253.       The provisions of this Chapter and the incidental laws enacted in Parliament or State Assembly in relation to combat of bribery, corruption, and money laundering shall supersede any other inconsistent laws or rules in other enactments or regulations in the country.

254.       (1) The Commission shall prepare an annual budget with estimates of funds required for its expeditious operation and present directly to Parliament, and it shall be the responsibility of Parliament to allocate such stipulated funds and Finance Minister shall deposit such allocated amounts to “Anti-corruption Fund” of the Commission.

(2) The Anti-corruption Fund of the Commission shall have the right to receive grants, donations, bequests, and twenty five percent of funds from penalties imposed by courts arising out of cases instigated by the Commission.

(3) If the fund allocation, in accordance with the paragraph (1) of this Article, is not approved on time, Parliament shall be required to approve emergency funds which shall not be less than the total sum allocated in the previous year.

255.                   (1)  The following persons shall submit, subject to the provisions of the paragraph (2) of this Article, Declaration of Assets and Liabilities.

 

(a)    President;

(b)   Vice President;

(c)    Prime Minister;

(d)   Member of Parliament;

(e)   Local Member;

(f)     Members of the Constitutional Council and Independent Commissions;

(g)    Close Family Member of (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e) above;

(h)   Diplomats;

(i)      Private staff of (a), (b), (c), (d), and (h) above;

(j)     Governors and managerial staff of the Central Bank and State banks in management or supervisory roles;

(k)    All officers including and above the position of Assistant Superintendent of Customs (ASC) in the Customs, and such officers as par with the Customs in the Inland Revenue Department, Prison Department, Excise Department, and the Police;

(l)      Heads, and persons in the top management in departments, and other government offices; and

(m) Attorneys-at-law, professional journalists as per the provisions of 298(2)(d), and other high risk positions, as the commission so decides, and publishes in Gazette.

(2) Declaration of Assets and Liabilities shall be submitted:

(a) at the first appointment;

(b) annually after appointment;

(c) at the end of the tenure, resignation, or retirement;

(d) in two years after the retirement or resignation;

(e) at the moment of an elections as per the provisions of Article 136; and

(f) at any time the Commission so request on a complaint received by the Commission.

(3) Categories of Information to be included in such Declaration of Assets and Liabilities shall be:

(a) Immovable assets;

(b) Sources of income;

(c) Corporate rights, stocks and securities;

(d) Bank accounts (including dormant accounts);

(e) Insurance policies;

(f) cash (not in bank accounts) and digital currencies;

(g) Values of income (for each month in last twelve months);

(h) Movable assets;

(i) Liabilities and financial obligations;

(j) High level positions in public and private capacity;

(k) Gifts;

(l) Unpaid activities;

(m) Expenditures;

(n) Sponsored travel (within last twenty four months); and

(o) Information disclosing general Conflicts of Interest.

(4) The Commission shall issue a warning first if a person has not submitted the Declaration within the stipulated time period, and shall fine not more than two hundred fifty thousand LKRS to the same person in subsequent late submissions.

(5) The Commission shall, on non-submission of the Declaration, submission of false information, or intentional omission of information, indict in High Court any person notwithstanding any provision of this Constitution for such wrongful act.

256.       (1) All Declarations shall be submitted electronically via the website of Anti-corruption Commission within the stipulated time period.

(2) The Commission shall offer assistance to such declarants in online submission.

(3) The Commission shall maintain a secured Central Depository of Asset Declarations (CDAD) stored with all information of such declarations, and shall not delete or dispose of such details within not less than fifty years.
 
(4) The Commission shall check and verify such information in Declarations routinely and in light of new revelations by whistle-blowers and journalists.

(5) The Commission shall, in addition to manual checking and verification, employ computational capability and Artificial Intelligence to continuously scrutinize such information with automatic “flagging capability” of suspicious information.

257.       The Commission shall cause to publish on its official website all such declarations redacted only to conceal personally sensitive information.

258.   (1) The heads of State and private entities shall ensure to follow and apply in their entities the guidelines and rules proclaimed by the Commission to combat corruption and bribery.

(2) Head of a State entity shall be subjected to disciplinary action even inclusive of transfer, demotion, or interdiction of the person by the Commission in the event of repeated violations are found and proved in the entity.

(3) Head of a private entity shall be subjected to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand LKRS or be indicted in High Court.

259.   The Commission shall entertain any request for information by a foreign jurisdiction only if such request has been ratified by a competent court in such foreign country and such request shall be channeled through in accordance with the provisions of the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) Act.

 

260.   (1) The Commission shall investigate and prosecute against the following offences related to cases of corruption or bribery, in accordance with the law.

 

(a)    Bribery including sexual bribery;

(b)   Bribery of foreign public officials and officials of public international organizations;

(c)    Bribery in the private sector;

(d)   Failure to declare Conflicts of Interest;

(e)   Bribery or corruption in competitive sporting events;

(f)     Money laundering in relation to money or property accumulated through bribery;

(g)    Making false complaints and Statements;

(h)   Giving false evidence in court;

(i)      Falsely pretending to be an officer;

(j)     Obstruction of search, justice, or officers;

(k)    Interference with witness;

(l)      Abetment, attempt, or conspiracy to commit an offence;

(m) Contravening secrecy or confidentiality of important information of proceedings, persons, and activities.

(2) Parliament shall make or amend laws to provide for the sanctions and incidental rules for the offences listed in the paragraph (1) of this Article, and until then, the Commission shall make and publish in Gazette such rules with sanctions as it seems fit.

261.   No suit or proceeding shall lie against the Chairman, Member or Secretary or Officer of the Commission for any lawful act which in good faith is done in the performance of his duties or functions as such Chairman, Member, Secretary or Officer of the Commission.

262.   Parliament may empower the Commission by enactment of laws in relation to bribery and corruption, and the Commission shall assume such powers, duties, and responsibilities entrusted by such enactments, subject to the provisions of this Chapter.