Sharing technical knowledge and experience with Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption agency

Photo Credit: Japan International Cooperation Agency

Situation

In September 2023, the Government of Sri Lanka enacted new anti-corruption legislation, enhancing the independence, powers and purview of Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption agency, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC). This was catalysed by the IMF Governance Diagnostic Assessment for Sri Lanka which highlighted corruption vulnerabilities as a key reason for the economic crisis the country faced in 2022. The new legislation introduced Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) as an instrument CIABOC could use in addressing corporate liability. ILP, in collaboration with a team of legal experts whose experience and expertise included the successful negotiation of multimillion-dollar DPAs in the UK, was assigned by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to provide technical input to support CIABOC in developing a standard operating procedure for DPAs in Sri Lanka, by sharing experiences and practices of DPAs in the UK.

ILP’s Action

ILP’s team of legal experts delivered a series of workshops and case study sessions for the prosecutors and investigators of CIABOC, in-country and online, providing practical insight into the strengths, challenges and lessons learned in implementing DPAs in UK.

Impact

ILP’s technical input supported CIABOC to design a Standard Operating Procedure for the lifecycle of a DPA arrangement with a corporation. This will assist CIABOC in ensuring consistency in application of DPAs in the future. It also created awareness of this instrument as an effective tool to combat corporate corruption offences.