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Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament yesterday that the Government has decided to establish the Financial Crime Investigation Division (FCID) next week and investigations will be carried out promptly into all cases related to financial crimes that have not been properly probed in the past.
There is a backlog of 29,000 complaints pending with the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) related to various crimes and that all files related to financial crimes will be handed over to the FCID for expedited investigations.
The Minister said this while participating in the Adjournment Debate on the Government’s national initiative, ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ in Parliament yesterday. The Minister also stated that the “Clean Sri Lanka” Programme was initiated to bring about transformation in all sectors of society.
“We must understand the crucial situation which prevailed when we took over the country. This country was gripped by so many crimes.We are restoring the country that we took over. We expect to do so under the ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ programme which is a major programme of the current Government.
“However, this programme was belittled by narrowing it to just cleaning a tank, reducing road accidents and cleaning up garbage. The Clean ‘Sri Lanka Programme’ initiated to build the country with a Sri Lankan social identity by creating new changes socially and environmentally and going beyond economic and physical development for protecting the lives of the people.
“This programme is being carried out with the participation of all Ministries, institutions, community organisations, businessmen, non-Governmental organisations and the public.
This is a programme with a broad social transformation to provide a rich country and a beautiful life. The aim of this is to create a transformation in the entire social process. It was started with a programme, a vision, and a roadmap. Therefore, no one can say that this programme does not have a vision, a programme or a roadmap.
“We talk about many things like bribery, corruption, underworld crimes and gangsterism. I am happy to say that by now we have worked towards creating the Police which is free of politics. “We have prepared a programme to provide opportunities to Police officers based on their ability and knowledge, etc. We have accomplished a unique task in the last two or three months. Despite this, people like Namal Rajapaksa tried to socialise various ideologies. We do not do anything without the approval of the public. We do everything with the participation of the public. “Therefore, do not belittle this programme and the entire programme should be appreciated.
Due to certain measures taken by the Police, road accidents have reduced to some extent. On some days, six or seven people die in road accidents every day. The number of people who die in road accidents should be reduced. Due to the various measures we have adopted, we have been able to reduce the number of deaths to two or three per day.
“We must understand this situation clearly. This country has become a land of crime. Today a large number of persons are playing a special role in combating crimes. But because of a small number of people involved in these crimes, the reputation of the security forces is also being destroyed. An Army Major, six other ranks, a Police officer, 15 members of an organised crime gang, and 15 others who supported these organised gangs have been arrested. They have been arrested in the past few days. In these few days, we have found a large quantity of weapons, including 07 T-56 weapons, 10 pistols and 17 revolvers. A huge quantity of drugs, cannabis cocaine and Ice has also been found in these two or three months. We are doing justice for the people of this country. We are playing a special role in the fight against drug trafficking and underworld activities,” he said.
Irangika Range
