Sri Lanka’s Cupboard of Ministers on Friday approved a brand new legislative invoice, endorsed by the Worldwide Financial Fund (IMF) that can permit the state to confiscate any property or proceeds ensuing from prison actions, a spokesperson for the cupboard advised native media.
Beneath the brand new legislation, referred to as the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), the federal government will likely be entitled to freeze and/or confiscate any property they think are the proceeds of prison exercise, together with these property acquired by means of commissions, bribery, and fraud. Within the US and different widespread legislation jurisdictions, this is named civil forfeiture and refers to a judicial course of underneath which legislation enforcement or authorities officers are empowered to grab property and property linked to prison exercise. The POCA, along with permitting for the judicial freezing and forfeiture of such property, may even set up a brand new authority comprised of business consultants who will likely be tasked with managing these property within the South-Asian island nation.
The POCA, endorsed by the IMF, is the primary of its sort to be undertaken within the area.
Minister (Dr.) Bandula Gunawardana, Minister of Transport and Highways and Minister of Mass Media and the cupboard’s spokesman, introduced the information throughout a media briefing on the Authorities Info Division following the cupboard’s weekly assembly.
“There’s a dire want for this legislation,” Gunawardana advised reporters, as shared by Reuters. “Sri Lanka’s financial system is stabilizing however it’ll solely be steady after we full the debt restructuring course of, which is at an important stage now. We should proceed down this path.”
The brand new legislation varieties half of a bigger joint effort between Sri Lanka and the IMF to enhance governance, in addition to fulfill Sri Lanka’s obligations underneath their $2.9 billion debt restructuring program, amid the nation’s ongoing financial disaster, which started in 2019 and worsened in 2022 following unprecedented ranges of inflation and a dramatic decline in accessible international alternate reserves. The latter led to nationwide demonstrations, with civilians protesting the federal government’s response to financial hardship. Sri Lanka acquired a line of credit score from its neighbor India, amounting to $4 billion, which coated the prices of importing important items and gasoline. It has led to a notable enchancment in Sri Lanka’s international debt obligations. In 2023, Sri Lanka turned to the IMF, which set out a four-year bailout program that requires the nation to impose financial reforms and entertain bi-annual fiscal critiques in alternate for $2.9 billion in tranches. The POCA is among the first required reforms to take form.
Source / Picture: jurist.org
