(LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government and I Paid A Bribe Sri Lanka has launched a “first of its kind” anti-corruption website www.ipaidabribe.lk to crowd source reports on corruption.
President Maithripala Sirisena and Chairman of the Commission to Investiate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe, were present at the launch at the UN anti-corruption day event in Colombo.
“The motto of the new Sri Lankan Government this year was fight against corruption and to usher in good governance. We are in the 85th position on Corruption Perception Index, and initiatives like I Paid A Bribe will help in improving our rating,” Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, chairman of Diri Saviya Foundation, which introduced I Paid A Bribe (IPAB), said.
The site, available to the public in Sinhalese, Tamil and English, will help CIABOC fight corruption and media can report on these incidents, officials said.
Since the launch in several countries such as India, Pakistan and Greece, the site has helped to identify corruption in government sector, police departments and other institutions. The site will quantify the data and the public will be able to see the most corrupt district, department or police station etc.
As of July 2015, IPAB has partnered with non-profits and transparency organisations in 25 countries to create similar IPaidabribe.com sites and has initiated an international coalition named – Crowdsourcing Against Corruption Coalition.
The site can be accessed here: www.ipaidabribe.lk
– LBO