The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) ( si, මූල්‍ය අපරාධ විමර්ශන අංශය) ( ta, நிதி குற்றம் புலனாய்வு பிரிவு) is a

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...

unit of the

Sri Lanka Police (The one who lives by the Dhamma is protected by the Dhamma itself) , mission = , formedyear = , preceding1 = Ceylon Police Force (1866–1972) , dissolved = , superseding = , employees = ...

tasked with investigating financial crimes.

Overview

FCID was established by Minister of Public Order and Christian Affairs John Amaratunga on 26 February 2015 under the instructions from the Prime Minister

Ranil Wickremesinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe ( si, රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ, ta, ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who is the current president of Sri Lanka since 21 July 2 ...

and it is headed by the DIG Ravi Waidyalankara. Financial Crimes Investigation Division is directly accountable for carrying out investigations throughout the island into serious

financial fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid t ...

, misuse of state assets or funds, cases of a nature that require intellectual skills and complex detection. At times, the FCID carries out investigations pertaining to

Government revenue Government revenue or national revenue is money received by a government from taxes and non-tax sources to enable it to undertake public expenditure. Government revenue as well as government spending are components of the government budget and ...

. The FCID agencies are highly skilled in encountering the Major Financial Crimes, Frauds, Unsolicited Mega Projects, Major Financial Crimes against Public Property, Money Laundering, Terrorist financing and financial transaction, Illegal financial Transaction, Unlawful enrichments, and Offences on Financial Crimes against National Security. The FCID has utmost powers to arrest

civilians Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...

, government workers and

legislator A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for ex ...

from anywhere in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

without getting approval from

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

or DIG of this unit. The suspect can be remanded by a Magistrate Court until further hearings.

History

The Financial Crimes Investigation Division was formed on 26 February 2015 under the purview of Sri Lanka Police Service. FCID is directly responsible in handling the investigations on the corruption charges against the Rajapaksa Administration and the public service that involved in large-scale corruption which led to destabilize the

. However there was number of complaints against several high profile ministers of the Sirisena cabinet also. FCID has also arrested several high profile ministers of Rajapaksa Administration including former Economy Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa. The FCID also received training from UK's Serious Fraud Office after the Sri Lankan government requested international assistance against corruption in 2015. In 2017 July, President Maithripala Sirisena expressed his disapproval on the FCID activities over investigations carried out against his cabinet members Minister A.H.M. Fowzi using a car belonging to another ministry and appointment given to his daughter by former state minister Priyankara Jayaratne. It is also revealed that government spends Rs.1.2 million monthly to maintain the FCID.

Notable Arrests

References

External links

Official Police Website
{{Sri Lankan security forces Sri Lanka Police units Secret police Criminology organizations