Tuesday, February 07, 2017

Information sought on assets of President, PM under RTI

Colombo Gazette‎‎‎: Colombo: Tuesday, February 07, 2017.
An application has been filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking information on the assets of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The application was filed by Transparency International Sri Lanka.
Information has also been sought from the Customs Department and Bribery Commission.
The RTI Act came into effect on 3rd February, 2017 bringing with it a promise of open Government, of citizens’ active participation in governance, and of accountability to the sovereign people of the country.
Sankhitha Gunaratne, RTI Manager at Transparency International Sri Lanka had said earlier that the RTI law is unique in several ways as it overrides all other written law, where there may be contradiction.
Furthermore, she said all information can be revealed if the greater public interest is served by disclosing the information. This applies even where the information sought could potentially fall within the exceptions in the law.