Eliminate cancerous scourge of corruption, says AG

Walter Liyanarachchi

Attorney General Mohan Peiris addressing the Key Persons’ Forum. President FCCISL, Kosala Wickramanayake looks on.

The cancerous scourge of corruption should be eliminated to usher in an equitable and just society. Small and medium enterprise developers can efficiently contribute to overcome this menace in a networking forum for public and private sector by having constant dialogues, said the Attorney General Mohan Peiris.

He was addressing the Key Persons’ Forum titled ‘Corruption: Causes and Impact on Business and Society’ jointly organized by the Federation of Chambers and Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) and Small and Medium Enterprise Developers (SMED). The SMED is the SME arm of the FCCISL which was set up by Friedrich Naumann Foundation in 1989

The Key Persons’ Forum is a monthly event launched with the objective of organizing a series of public lectures, seminars and discussions featuring eminent persons who share experiences and policy perspectives on a face-to-face basis, on matters relevant and of interest to the private sector.

“We do not genuinely believe that we need to eradicate bribery and corruption. As long as there are givers and takers and as long as there are people to achieve things through corruption, corruption will exist.

It is time that the community does some serious soul-searching to resolve it in manner that we are not going to resort to corruption. This may be a difficult task because of our human nature, culture or because of our practices. We hesitate to call a spade a spade and do not want to get out of wrong doings”, said Peiris.

He said that corruption undermines and endangers the stability and security of the foundation of an honest society and it also hampers the execution of democracy and ethical values and morality. Corruption also jeopardises sustainable development, the rule of law and the credibility of governance.