Member of Parliament Dr. Nishantha Samaraweera, Chair of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), announced that following COPE investigations, reports on each institution will now be submitted individually to Parliament.
Previously, reports were submitted only after investigations into multiple institutions had been completed.
Dr. Samaraweera explained that the decision was taken due to the slow implementation of COPE’s recommendations regarding irregularities and corruption uncovered during investigations.
As the first step under the new approach, the report on the investigation into the Medicines Regulatory Authority has been tabled in Parliament, with a debate scheduled to follow shortly.
He further stated that recommendations arising from the investigations would be forwarded to the Attorney General to initiate legal action against individuals involved in corruption and fraud. Additionally, he noted that they are considering referring extracts to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to pursue further investigations into corruption within government institutions.
