{"id":171333,"date":"2016-12-08T05:48:50","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T00:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=171333"},"modified":"2016-12-08T05:48:50","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T00:18:50","slug":"amidst-allegations-of-corruption-transparency-internationals-sri-lanka-chapter-under-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/amidst-allegations-of-corruption-transparency-internationals-sri-lanka-chapter-under-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Amidst Allegations Of Corruption, Transparency International\u2019s Sri Lanka Chapter Under Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Transparency International\u2019s Sri Lanka chapter (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=TISL&amp;x=4&amp;y=6\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">TISL<\/span><\/a>) will undergo an independent review, in the wake of serious allegations of corruption and malpractices leveled against the local chapter and members of its hierarchy.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_166489\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Asoka-Obeyesekere.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-166489\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-166489\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Asoka-Obeyesekere-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Asoka-Obeyesekere-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Asoka-Obeyesekere-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-166489\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A senior official attached to the Berlin based anti-corruption body told the Colombo Telegraph that the four week institutional audit which will be carried out by an independent reputed body will determine any malpractices as alleged by some staff members of the local chapter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Transparency International receives a complaint, we pay a lot of attention to it. Given that the allegations are very institutional in nature, we are helping TISL to carry out an internal audit to see what the real caps are within the chapter. We believe this audit will help resolve the issues,\u201d Rukshan Nanayakkara, advocacy manager for\u00a0Sustainable Development Goals at the international secretariat told the Colombo Telegraph.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Asoka+Obeyesekere&amp;x=11&amp;y=6\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Asoka Obeyesekere<\/span><\/a> who took over as TISL\u2019s Executive Director a year ago has come under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/tisl-in-crisis-staff-alleges-procedure-violation-nepotism-penalization-of-staff-and-insider-dealings\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">serious allegations by a group of staff members<\/span><\/a> who have gone on to claim that they have been penalized by the senior management for highlighting various malpractices and corruption at the chapter. In a letter addressed to TISL Chairman, Lakshan Dias, three staff members, Shan Wijetunge (Senior Manager, Advocacy &amp; Public Relations), Ananda Jayasekara (Programme Manager) and Jagath Liyana Arachchi (Manager, Advocacy &amp; Legal Advice Centre), who also identified themselves as whistleblowers brought to light a series of issues facing the local chapter, while also requesting Dias to carry out an independent and impartial inquiry without any of the Board Members of TISL being involved in such an inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>However, Nanayakkara noted that since taking over as the new Executive Director, Obeyesekere had made some changes, which was all administrative related including the reshuffling of staff. \u201cThis created concerns among staff,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>While elaborating that TI operates as a federation of NGOs, Nanayakkara said that TI permits a particular entities to use its tag for a period of three years, and every three years the local chapter is reviewed to verify if it follows the stipulated governance, transparency and accountability standards, the international secretariat is built on. \u201cAny recommendations that come out from the institutional audit will be collectively looked at and we will see what can be done to address the issues, if any,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Nanayakkara added that the audit will help determine if there has been any cases of corruption, malpractices at the chapter as alleged by some of the staff, as well as any cases where staff who call themselves whistleblowers have been penalized.\u00a0<strong><em>(By Munza Mushtaq)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":166489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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