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Colombo / AFP
Sri Lanka’s top anti-corruption prosecutor resigned on Monday after President Maithripala Sirisena accused her of launching politically-motivated investigations into former military officials, including the brother of his predecessor.
Sirisena, who came to power last year promising to end corruption and restore rule of law, took the unusual step of publicly condemning Dilrukshi Wickramasinghe last week over the prosecution of three retired admirals and the former defence secretary.
On Monday Wickramasinghe resigned as head of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), commission member Neville Guruge said.
Sources close to her said the president’s public comments last week prompted her decision.
Wickramasinghe, a senior prosecutor from the state Attorney General’s department, has launched several high-profile investigations against members of the former regime and the family of former president Mahinda Rajapakse.
There was no immediate comment from Sirisena, who said last week that military commanders who led the successful campaign to crush separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009 should not be humiliated in such a manner.
The president accused Wickramasinghe’s CIABOC of working according to a “political agenda” and vowed to take unspecified “stern action” against it and two other anti-corruption bodies, the Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) and the Crime Investigations Division (CID).