• Permission given to recruit nearly 1,000 staff
• AG’s opinion confirms commission’s autonomy over appointments 

The Committee on Public Finance (COPF) has cleared the way for the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) to begin large-scale recruitment, resolving a legal dispute between the commission and the Treasury that had delayed the process for over a year.

The discussion took place during a COPF meeting chaired by Dr. Harsha de Silva on Tuesday (10), where members examined delays in implementing the Anti-Corruption Act of 2023, which had hindered the commission’s efforts to build its own specialised workforce.

During the meeting, CIABOC Director General Ranga Dissanayake informed the committee that the Attorney General had issued a legal opinion confirming the commission’s independence in making staff appointments.

Quoting the opinion, Dissanayake said that the provisions of the Public Financial Management Act No.44 of 2024 did not apply to appointments made under Sections 26(1) and 27 of the Anti-Corruption Act.

The clarification allows the commission to determine its own cadre requirements rather than following standard Treasury procedures applied to State departments.

The COPF approved the recruitment procedure for 971 positions within the commission, enabling the CIABOC to proceed with building the specialised investigative and legal teams required under the new anti-corruption law.

Dissanayake also outlined plans to decentralise the commission’s operations by establishing offices outside Colombo to improve access for witnesses and victims of corruption. 

He noted that since 1994, all investigative and legal proceedings had been centralised in Colombo, creating significant challenges for those required to travel to the capital to give evidence.

“We have to go all over Sri Lanka to conduct raids, and then those people have to come to Colombo to give evidence,” he said, describing the situation as “very unfortunate”.

According to the Director General, the commission aims to establish at least nine provincial offices within the year before gradually expanding its presence to all 25 districts.

However, he cautioned that building such capacity required a specialised workforce and adequate training.

“If we recruit new officers, they cannot be deployed immediately. They will first need to undergo training,” he said.

The meeting also highlighted concerns regarding salary structures for commission staff. 

Although the basic salaries for legal officers have been aligned with those of the Attorney General’s Department, total remuneration remains lower by approximately Rs. 200,000 annually due to differences in allowances. 

Despite this, Dissanayake urged the committee to approve the current proposal in order to avoid further delays in recruitment. 

“I have been struggling for a year to get this structure approved. If we continue to argue over these figures, I will still be unable to build this staff,” he said. 

Dr. de Silva expressed support for introducing a negotiated salary structure for independent commissions, noting that similar arrangements existed at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. 

“We must think outside daily politics. Who can you bring to this place with a salary of Rs. 58,000?” he asked, stressing the need to offer competitive remuneration to attract qualified professionals to anti-corruption roles.

While the recruitment framework for the 971 positions has been approved, the salaries of the Commissioners and the Director General remain pending. 

According to officials, these are expected to be aligned with the salaries of Court of Appeal judges and are currently under consideration by the President’s Office and Cabinet.

“We have no objection to this,” Dr. de Silva said, adding that the committee would not delay the process further as the commission needed to move forward with its work.