One of the three seats on the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption falls vacant at the end of this year, and the body that recommends who fills it is chaired by a Speaker the Commission is itself investigating, The Island reported, citing sources familiar with the inquiry.

Commissioner Chethiya Goonasekara, PC, completes a three-year term on 31 December 2026. CIABOC commissioners are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the ten-member Constitutional Council, which means applications for the successor must be called soon. The Council’s chairman is Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne.

The sources put the issue narrowly: whether, under Section 107 of the Anti-Corruption Act No. 9 of 2023, the Speaker’s participation in the selection process would itself amount to a violation of the Act. They said the opposition and the civil society representatives on the Council should raise it before the process begins.

That is a sharper claim than the calls for the Speaker to resign that have already been made. Those turned on propriety. This one turns on whether a specific statutory provision is breached by a specific act — recommending the people who will staff the commission investigating you.

Where the investigation stands

CIABOC opened its file after a complaint by suspended Chief of Staff and Deputy Secretary General of Parliament Chaminda Kularatne in early February. The Commission recorded Kularatne’s statement only in the second week of August — six months later.

It has moved faster since. On 3, 8 and 10 September CIABOC recorded statements from Parliament’s Transport Officer, Deputy Director (Administration) and Assistant Director (Finance) concerning the use of facilities by the Speaker and by staff assigned to him.

The terms, and who holds them

Under the Anti-Corruption Act the three commissioners serve staggered terms: the chairman five years, the second commissioner four, the third three. Justice W. M. N. P. Iddawala is chairman; K. Bernard Rajapakse is the second commissioner. Goonasekara, appointed by then-President Ranil Wickremesinghe in January 2024, holds the three-year seat — which is why his is the first to expire.

The Constitutional Council’s current members are the Speaker as chairman, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, MPs Bimal Rathnayake, Aboobucker Athambawa, Ajith P. Perera and Sivagnanam Shritharan, and civil society representatives Austin Fernando, Prof. Wasantha Seneviratne and Ranjith Ariyaratne.

Wickramaratne was named Speaker by the NPP after Asoka Ranwala resigned over a dispute about his stated academic qualifications.

Not reported

The Island’s account rests entirely on unnamed sources and carries no response from the Speaker’s office, CIABOC or the Constitutional Council. It does not set out what Section 107 says, does not report whether applications have in fact been called, and does not say whether any Council member has raised the objection. No other verified newsroom had the story at the time of writing.