International probe on economic crimes and corruption

Ex-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s continued mishandling led to the unprecedented collapse of the economy early this year. Sri Lanka is yet to recover from the hardships it has caused as a new government introduces more new measures to enhance revenue, a heavy burden on the people.

Amidst this, what has remained forgotten is a probe on how the mishandling occurred and who else was responsible. The new government has ignored this aspect altogether, with perhaps those within, manipulated from behind the scenes by a de facto leader, operating behind the scenes. Last Thursday, however, the international community that has seen the misery caused to people stressed the need for such a probe and to deal with those responsible

This is easily a significant highlight of a resolution on “promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.” Twenty-one countries voted in favour and twenty abstained. Voting against the resolution or in support of Sri Lanka were seven countries, the lowest so far. Those who supported the resolution were: Argentina, Armenia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Honduras, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, the Marshal Islands, Mexico, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The countries that abstained are Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, Cote d Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Namibia, Nepal, Qatar, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan and th eUnited Arab Emirates. The countries that voted against the resolution and thus for Sri Lanka are Bolivia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela

Other than the references to the worst economic crisis, another new area where the resolution has focused considerable attention is the crisis of corruption. Far from being political, these are factors that have affected every Sri Lankan. It has also focused for the first time on the recent public protests to oust President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and matters arising from it. Most of the other provisions in the resolution, however, have found reference in previous resolutions, too, and could be argued as perhqps political in nature. Yet, the movers have ceded a basis for such a move and declared they have collected substantial evidence.  Considerable attention has been focused on them, but the new elements clearly override the past issues. Therefore, it raises an inevitable question — what has been the government’s strategy to counter them? Were there any?  After all, economic mishandling and mounting corruption are burning issues over which the blame cannot be placed on the Tamil diaspora, a foreign country or the opposition.

Thus, the latest resolution is the toughest against Sri Lanka and could have far-reaching consequences. Though not necessarily in that order, here are the references to the current economic crisis, corruption, and the recent protests. They are all new: