Financial Intelligence Unit signs MoU with Bribery Commission

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Sri Lanka has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) to exchange information relating to investigations and prosecutions of money laundering, bribery or corruption, and other related offenses.

Mr. Chethiya Goonasekera, PC, Commissioner of the CIABOC, and Mr. Kanishka Wijeratne, Director General of the CIABOC, signed the MOU on behalf of the CIABOC, and Dr. Subhani Keerthiratne, Director of the FIU signed the MOU on behalf of the FIU.

The MOU signing was chaired by Dr. P Nandalal Weerasinghe, the Governor of the CBSL, in the capacity as the Chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) National Coordinating Committee.

Mrs. K M A N Daulagala, Deputy Governor of the CBSL and an AML/CFT Task Force member, also attended the occasion.

The new Anti-Corruption Act, No. 9 of 2023, has empowered the CIABOC to share information relevant to any investigation with local law enforcement or Government authority. Regarding the Financial Transactions Reporting Act, No. 6 of 2006 (FTRA), the FIU can enter MOUs with any domestic government institution to exchange information.

The MOU between the CIABOC and the FIU would enable both institutions to exchange information, which is vital for preventing, detecting, and prosecuting money laundering, bribery or corruption, and other related offenses, said the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in a statement.

Since 2008, the FIU has entered into 44 MOUs with foreign counterparts as well as 13 MOUs with domestic government agencies, including Sri Lanka Customs, Department of Immigration and Emigration, Inland Revenue Department, Department for Registration of Persons, Sri Lanka Police, Excise Department of Sri Lanka, etc., to share information to strengthen the AML/CFT framework of the country.