The Cabinet this week too has postponed the decision to extend the term of the Anti-Corruption Secretariat which came to an end on June 30.
The offices of the secretariat have been closed to the public as of July 1. The Secretariat, established in February 2015 under the Prime Minister, received a six month extension of its term earlier this year. It was set up to look into the complaints of large scale corruption of the previous regime directed to it by the public and to direct the complaints to the investigating agencies such as the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID), Commission to Investigate into Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC), the Police Special Investigation Unit (SIU) or the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
Co-Cabinet Spokesman, Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara said the Cabinet did not make a decision on the secretariat this week.
It was reported last week that President Maithripala Sirisena had been critical of the work of the secretariat, at the Cabinet meeting held on July 4 when the paper to renew its term was put forward by the Prime Minister and had questioned the effectiveness of the body. The secretariat has received 1,100 complaints and 465 had been selected as large scale corruption cases.