Unaccountable Accountants Mock Good Governance: Activists Not Interested
By Amrit Muttukumaru –June 22, 2016
Amrit Muttukumaru
It is baffling why good governance activists purportedly battling corruption steer clear of demanding accountability from Chartered Accountants faulted for egregious professional misconduct by the Supreme Court, Parliament’s watchdog COPE, the Attorney-General and CA Sri Lanka ‘Ethics Committee’ itself in the scandalous privatisation of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) causing major loss to the people of this country. This is bizarre since chartered accountants/auditors are the first line of defence against corruption in all entities dealing with financial resources. Although they talk the hind legs off a donkey on the evils of corruption and some get paid for doing so, they fail to bite the bullet by ‘naming & shaming’ errant professionals and bigwigs in the corporate sector complicit in the corruption of politicians. It cannot be over emphasized that all allegations must be substantiated.
It is this reluctance to ‘name & shame‘ that emboldens wrongdoers inisolated instances of ‘naming & shaming’ to make pathetic attempts to ‘shoot the messenger’ as adiversionary tactic.
The integrity of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) is heavily compromised due to its shameful conduct after my ‘complaint’ made as far back as 8 August 2005 of the ‘Professional Misconduct’ by the Sri Lanka affiliates of PwC and Ernst & Young (EY) in the fraudulent SLIC privatisation. To date it has not concluded its investigation, has reneged on its undertakings given to me and kept me the complainant in the dark. This is notwithstanding several written reminders. The undertaking includes “to complete the investigation early and transparently.” (Ref. CA Sri Lanka e-mail of 13 March 2006)
This is also of no interest to the ‘Young Turks’ in parliament who made a hue and cry about corruption and abuse of power in the run-up to the 2015 Presidential and General elections notwithstanding CA Sri Lanka being a statutory body established by Parliament by Act No.23 of 1959. They are now for the most part muted.
An excellent example of their outrage with a slew of files in tow is the link
