AG Dept. workers take to streets to push govt. over National Audit Bill

by Shamindra Ferdinando-July 1, 2016, 10:15 pm 

Close on the heels of Auditor General H. M. Gamini Wijesinghe's spat with the government over state borrowings exceeding the prescribed limit, the Department has launched an unprecedented campaign to pressure the government to introduce the National Audit Bill.

The department insisted that the Bill must not be diluted to deprive the Auditor General’s authority over public finances. There has never been a previous instance of a Department campaigning for a particular Bill.

Hundreds of employees of the Auditor General's Department took to the streets on Thursday (June 30) demanding that the passage of the National Audit Bill without further delay.

The police prevented them from marching on to Parliament on the basis they couldn't be allowed to enter a high security zone. Following a heated argument between the protesters and the police, several representatives were allowed to proceed to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya's Office, where they handed over a petition requesting Parliament to ensure the passage of an undiluted National Audit Bill.

A top spokesperson for the AG's Department yesterday told The Island that a four-member Cabinet Sub-Committee had recommended the removal of 20 critically important sections meant to curb waste, corruption and irregularities.

Those sections empowered the AG to recover funds from those who had caused losses to the state regardless of their standing in the society and transfer such funds to the Consolidated Fund. They called for doing away with 20 out of 57 sections to protect those who had been living luxury lives at the expense of the national economy.

The Cabinet Sub-Committee consisted of Special Assignment Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama (Chairman), City Planning and Water Supply Minister and SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem, Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

The official said they expected Speaker Jayasuriya to intervene in the matter especially against the backdrop of a simmering controversy over former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran's conduct in respect of bond issues.

The spokesperson said that President Maithripala and UNP leader and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe assured in the run-up to January, 2015 presidential polls that the National Audit Bill would be tabled in parliament on February 19, 2015 and approved within three weeks.

As the proposed National Audit Bill had been drafted by a committee led by the AG and vetted by the Attorney General and also endorsed by the Legal Draftsman there couldn't be any problem with presenting it to Parliament, he said.

The official castigated the previous SLFP-led PA and UPFA administrations for purposely delaying the National Audit Bill. Obviously, politicians and an influential sections of state sector administrators opposed the proposed National Audit Bill as they feared being held accountable for losses caused to the state due to waste, corruption, irregularities as well as negligence.

The Combined Trade Union Alliance of Auditor General's department has reached an understanding with several civil society organisations to campaign for the early implementation of the proposed National Audit Bill. They will brief the media at the Public Library on July 3 at 10 am regarding their campaign.

The AG department said the previous government delayed the proposed National Audit Bill by nearly 13 years. Having campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, the Yahapalana rulers couldn't weaken a genuine effort to fight corruption.

The Department expected the civil society and public support to pressure the government over this issue. Meanwhile, the Speaker's Office told The Island that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya would discuss with the Attorney General, Auditor General and members of the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka a 1,251 page report received from AG Wijesinghe on controversial bond transactions before taking a decision. A spokesperson said that the Speaker would peruse the report before meeting the relevant officials.

The Auditor General's Department spokesperson said the decision on Wijesinghe's report to the Speaker and the ongoing battle for early passage of the proposed National Audit Bill would expose those who had been protecting corrupt persons.