300 politicians to get axed?

February 13, 2017

A list of 300 names of politicians who have not handed over declaration of Assets & Liabilities has been sent to Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption for further action says the Chairman of Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya.

If the politicians who have not declared their assets and liabilities are found guilty they would not be able to contest the forthcoming election state Bribery Commission sources.

Among the politicians who have not declared their Assets & Liabilities are current provincial council members, chairmen, candidates who were defeated at the last general election, former mayors and UC chairmen, former chairmen of Pradeshiya Sabhas, former MPs and Ministers. Mr. Mahinda Deshapriya said the Bribery Commission would take legal action against the 300 politicians.

The office bearers of political parties too are expected to declare their assets and liabilities. The Election Commission has decided to give them two more weeks to hand over their declarations. The Commissioner said a list of those office bearers of political parties would be sent to the Bribery Commission by the 28th of this month.

A news item published by ‘Ravaya’ on the first page of its issue on 01.01.2017 had stated that the JVP also was a party that had not submitted income and liabilities of its office bearers. However, when the General Secretary of the JVP Tilvin Silva pointed out that all office bearers of the JVP had already submitted declarations of assets and liabilities to the Speaker, the newspaper had to publish an apology for publishing a falsehood.