September 02, Colombo (LNW): Over the first seven months of 2025, nearly 50 individuals have been apprehended across Sri Lanka in connection with various bribery and corruption-related activities, according to figures released by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).
The anti-corruption body disclosed that it had received a total of 3,937 complaints between January and July this year. Acting upon this influx of reports, authorities carried out 72 targeted operations, with 39 of those missions deemed successful in leading to arrests or the collection of substantive evidence.
Amongst those detained, a significant proportion were members of the Sri Lanka Police—17 officers in total—making the law enforcement sector the single largest group implicated in these incidents.
The arrests, however, were not limited to the police. Suspects also hailed from a range of state bodies, underscoring the breadth of institutional vulnerability to corrupt practices.
Individuals attached to the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, the Department of Immigration and Emigration, the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB), and various District Secretariats were among those taken into custody, according to the Commission’s statement.
In addition to the arrests, judicial proceedings over the same period resulted in 27 convictions, with the individuals found guilty of accepting bribes in the course of their official duties.
