President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on Sunday that there will be “no limit” to action against those who have stolen public property, while insisting his government is not pursuing political revenge, NewsFirst reported.
He was speaking at the NPP’s public rally in Gampaha, part of a series of events marking two years in office. The President used the same speech to announce a Rs. 41 billion fuel subsidy going before Cabinet on Monday and to say a property tax agreed with the IMF has been deferred.
On corruption
Dissanayake said there had been a strong public expectation that those responsible for the country’s economic and social decline would be held accountable, and that the government would continue pursuing corruption investigations.
Major investigations are currently under way, he said, with some cases requiring international assistance. He framed the effort as accountability rather than retribution, saying the government has no intention of pursuing political revenge and that the rule of law must apply equally to everyone.
People who once believed they would never have to face court over alleged crimes or fraud are now being required to appear before the courts, he said.
On communal politics
The President also addressed the use of racism in politics, saying the public had expected his government to prevent racial and religious conflict.
He claimed Sri Lanka had gone two years without a police complaint relating to a racial conflict, and alleged that attempts had been made to use minor incidents to stir communal tension. Racism, he said, would no longer be used as a tool to gain political power.
Context
The remarks land as the government’s anti-corruption record faces scrutiny from both directions — from opponents who say prosecutions are politically targeted, and from supporters who say too few senior figures have been charged two years in.
The claim of two years without a racial-conflict complaint is a strong one, and NewsFirst does not say which police records it rests on, over what period exactly, or how such complaints are categorised.
Not reported
NewsFirst names no investigation, suspect or case, and does not say which countries are being asked for assistance or in what form. It gives no timeline for the investigations and quotes no one other than the President.
Ada Derana also covered these remarks but could not be retrieved for this report; no other verified newsroom had filed on them at the time of writing.
