Sri Lanka’s Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has launched a wide-ranging investigation into the assets of senior officers in the country’s police and armed forces, according to a report by the state-owned Silumina newspaper.
The initial phase of the inquiry will focus on reviewing the asset declarations and financial records of top-ranking officials across the Police, Army, Navy, and Air Force, before expanding the investigation to include lower-ranking officers.
CIABOC also plans to extend its scrutiny to other key departments, including the Prisons Department, Sri Lanka Customs, and the Department of Immigration and Emigration, at a later stage.
Given the broad scope of the investigation, the commission is reportedly considering recruiting additional staff on a contractual basis, as the existing team is unable to manage the scale of the review. Internal discussions on the recruitment process are said to be underway.
The decision to initiate this inquiry comes amid growing reports of links between law enforcement and defence officials and organised criminal networks. According to Silumina, internal investigations into several senior officers allegedly connected to such groups have already begun.
The announcement follows increasing public scrutiny of corruption and misconduct within Sri Lanka’s security establishment. Despite repeated pledges of reform from successive governments, accountability for illicit financial activities and collusion between state officials and criminal groups has remained rare.