The Police Financial Crimes Investigation Division, will it be dismantled and dissolved in the near future? According to reports from The Ceylon Today newspaper, such is the case.

The paper has quoted a senior FCID official stating that the division is ‘struggling’ to conclude sixty two high-profile financial corruption cases. The official has said that their expertise is “not used as expected” and that most of the charge files are ‘collecting dust’ at the Attorney General’s Department.

The FCID has apparently been waiting for ‘too long’ to receive orders from the AG’s department on several pending serious cases, some of which were sent two years ago.

Here are some of such cases;

• The establishment of a Bank of Ceylon branch in Seychelles and the transfer of funds to companies there
• Several cases against the Rajapaksa family
• A case on the former President’s Chief of Staff Gamini Senarath
• Allegations against businessman Nandana Lokuvithana and his relationship with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in deals ranging between 48 to 190 million rupees.

The senior FCID official has also said that the FCID has ‘no clue’ on cases like the one involving Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia – Udayanga Weeratunga – apart from seeing him on Facebook with no sign of breakthrough on that case.

According to senior lawyers who commented on the move to dismantle the FCID, if the files are moved to other departments of the police, there would be practical difficulties resulting in further delays in the investigation process.

“If the bottle neck is the Attorney General I do not think it is appropriate to shut down the FCID.”, says Former Secretary – PRECIFAC, Lacille De Silva.

The staff at FCID will reportedly return to the Police Criminal Investigations Division and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption respectively.

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