The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has arrested a serving army lance corporal accused of soliciting Rs. 129,600 from a retired army officer under the false pretext of helping settle his outstanding retirement loan, the anti-corruption body said in a statement on Sunday.
The suspect, who was serving at an army camp in Anuradhapura, was taken into custody on April 30 after the retired officer lodged a complaint, CIABOC investigators said. The lance corporal allegedly told the complainant that he could secure a Rs. 2.5 million grant to settle the outstanding loan and induced him to deposit Rs. 129,600 in three instalments into a People’s Bank account, framing the payments as required “pre-payments.”
The arrest was triggered when the suspect demanded a further Rs. 13,457, claiming it was a “documentation fee” needed to release the funds. He was produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court and remanded in custody until May 8.
The case is the latest in a string of bribery prosecutions targeting lower-tier officials. CIABOC said it has stepped up enforcement against fraudulent financial schemes involving military personnel, alongside its higher-profile investigations of former cabinet members.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s administration has placed anti-corruption at the centre of its governance agenda, citing rigorous enforcement of the Anti-Corruption Act and the new Public Finance Management Law. Opposition parties have nonetheless questioned CIABOC’s impartiality, arguing the commission has moved slowly against ministers in the current cabinet despite formal complaints.
The arrest comes as several major accountability cases proceed simultaneously, including the Greek bond Trial-at-Bar against former CBSL governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal and the permanent Trial-at-Bar appointed in the Prageeth Ekneligoda case.
Source: EconomyNext.
