The Commission to Enquire into Bribery, State Council, Ceylon (known as the ''L. M. D. de Silva Commission'' ) was a commission of inquiry appointed by

British Governor of Ceylon The governor of Ceylon was the representative in Ceylon of the British Crown from 1795 to 1948. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in Ceylon. The governor was the ...

Sir Andrew Caldecott which was in effect from 1941 to 1943, to investigate and inquire into allegations of bribery and corruption among members of the

State Council of Ceylon The State Council of Ceylon was the unicameral legislature for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), established in 1931 by the Donoughmore Constitution. The State Council gave universal adult franchise to the people of the colony for the first time. It r ...

. The Commission consisted

Lucien Macull Dominic de Silva Lucien Macull Dominic de Silva, QC, PC (25 April 1893 – 28 November 1962) was a Ceylonese lawyer and judge, who was a Solicitor General of Ceylon, sat on the Supreme Court of Ceylon and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Education ...

a reputed barrister as its chairman. In April 1943 the Bribery Commissioner found that

E. W. Abeygunasekera Edwin Wilfred Abeygunasekera was a member of the 1st and 2nd State Councils of Ceylon. Abeygunasekera was elected to the State Council of Ceylon on 20 June 1931, representing Nuwara Eliya as a member of the Labour Party, defeating James T. Rut ...

Charles Batuwantudawe Charles de Silva Batuwantudawe (28 November 1877 - 13 September 1940) was a Ceylonese lawyer and politician. Charles Batuwantudawe was born in Colombo on 28 November 1877 the son of Pandit Don Andries de Silva Batuwantudawe. He received his edu ...

D. D. Gunasekera Daniel Dias Gunasekera was a Ceylonese businessman and politician. Gunasekera was elected to the 2nd State Council of Ceylon representing Bandarawela on 22 February 1936, where he sat on the Executive Committee of Health. In April 1943 the Bribe ...

, E. R. Tambimuttu and

H. A. Goonesekera Henry Abeywickrema Goonesekera was a Ceylonese politician, who was a member of the 2nd State Council of Ceylon. Goonesekera was adopted as child by the Sirimavo_Bandaranaike#Early_life_(1916–1940), Mahawelatenne family and as they had no male ...

had accepted bribes in the exercise of their duties as members of the Home Affairs Committee. They all resigned their positions on the State Council, with the exceptions of Batuwantudawe who had died earlier and Tambimuttu who continued to sit on the council until he was formally expelled.

External list

Commission To Investigate Allegations Of Bribery Or Corruption

Examining Facets of Corruption in Sri Lanka

References

{{reflist, 2 Sri Lankan commissions and inquiries Government reports Bribery scandals 1943 in Ceylon 1943 documents

See also

External list

References