Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva

¶ 01 Sir, I rise to a point of Order.

¶ 02 First, regarding the Report of the Committee on Public Finance on the Budget Estimate of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), there is a policy issue on institutional independence. Under the State Finance Management Act, No. 44 of 2024, overall State finance responsibility is brought under that Act, superseding previous laws, except for the Central Bank of Sri Lanka which remains independent and not subject to Parliamentary approval of its income and expenditure. However, two institutions’ budgets are approved by Parliament: CIABOC and the National Audit Office. The Committee reached consensus to recommend to the Government to ensure independence for the budgets of these two bodies as well, to avoid any future government influencing them via the Ministry of Finance. We propose amending the Interpretation Section of the State Finance Management Act to exclude these two institutions, thereby safeguarding their independence.

¶ 03 Second, regarding the remuneration of the Chair of CIABOC: in November 2023, we argued that to fight corruption we need to attract top calibre — a “Superman,” so to speak. Initially, we did not agree with the proposed salary in the Committee, saying it was inadequate. The Government then aligned it to the salary of the President of the Court of Appeal. However, after 2023, the Court of Appeal President’s salary has been increased, while CIABOC’s Chair’s salary has not. Therefore, the Committee recommends aligning CIABOC Chair’s salary to the revised Court of Appeal President’s salary from 2025/2026 onwards accordingly.

¶ 04 Thank you for the time, Hon. Speaker.