Minister calls for Asset Declarations of all 225 MP’s and President too
Sri Lanka’s State minister of Finance, Eran Wickramaratne lamented that Sri Lanka is alone in the region without laws to control Campaign Financing of politicians. The former banker spoke candidly on the need for a transparent process which he said was required in order that the public may be assured that politicians were not enriching themselves at the expense of public funds.
The State Minister also admitted that there may well be challenges in terms of implementation ‘but that does not mean we should not have the laws for Campaign Financing”.
The Minister who was appearing on the popular Newsline programe also called on all 225 parliamentarians to release details of their Asset Declaration and said “I would also like President Maithripala Sirisena to also release his Asset Declaration”.
Eran Wickramaratne agreed that a Campaign Financing Act must not only register local donations but also ensure that foreign donations do not play a role in electioneering – and admitted that he was surprised when the New York Times published an article claiming that Mahinda Rajapaksa’s election campaign was funded by funds from China.
