Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena said that Standing Orders will be amended to enable the sending of financial misappropriation revealed at the Committee on Public Enterprise (COPE), Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) to the Attorney General for further action. He said that the Amendment to the Standing Orders will be presented to the House on the next sitting day on the instructions of Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena. The Amendments are in the drafting stage.
The Minister said that the watchdog committees will be given more powers by amending the Standing Orders.
He was replying to Chief Opposition Whip MP Lakshman Kiriella on Friday when he queried as to whether the Amendments will be presented in Parliament as agreed to at the Party Leaders’ meeting.
He said that he made the proposal which was readily agreed to by the Leader of the House, the Speaker and others to direct those matters to the AG to take legal action. It was the practice so far to only investigate these matters in Parliament and present them before the House by way of a report. There should be a mechanism to take errant officers to book, he added.