Oil refinery is a haven for money laundering?

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The reports suggest that the controversial oil refinery project is attempting to pave the way for money laundering in Sri Lanka. News 1st team revealed possible doubts into the and corruption related to the newly commenced oil refinery project in Hambantota.  It is questionable why the government is settling to scandalous companies for investments despite thousands of other companies all around the world. Lasil De Silva, former Chairman to PRECIFAC shared his thoughts on the matter and noted that the Central Bank was directly responsible for the prevention of money laundering. According to him, almost every office that should act against these heinous crimes are crippled from within rendering them incapable of exercising anything against them. He added that even the Transparency International had presented facts regarding money laundering that occurs in Sri Lanka. He added that the implementation of laws was not sufficient to prevent money laundering and it should be followed by exercising laws. He finally added that it was necessary to take these relevant parties before court and if not Sri Lanka would never develop. Meanwhile, the Lawyers Collective convening a media briefing today (April 07) stated that they hope to go to the Supreme court against the matter. Attorney at law Manoj Gamage the President of the Lawyers Collective noted that government is stealing money from the public in broad daylight. He added that they would not stand for this injustice and they would resort to seek the supreme court to punish them under a future government. He finally added that they have already commenced investigations to ascertaining evidence to strengthen their case along with a few other organizations. In another context, the five-year anti-corruption action plan, that was launched by the president recently has the capability of drawing the line on these corrupt deals carried out in the guise of bringing investors into the country. The duty of implementing this plan falls on all responsible officials, and they must ensure that the plan is not confined to a mere document. Presidents Counsel Sarath Jayamanna, Director-General of the Bribery Commission noted that if such scandalous investor invests in Sri Lanka there are several institutions which could be reached on the matter for investigations. He noted that the intelligence unit at the Central Bank is supposed to pay attention to such matters. He finally noted that the five- year anti-corruption plan has suggested numerous procedures on how to address these issues and noted that they will be able to reduce corruption in Sri Lanka.