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Give protection to whistle-blowers
By Nagananda Kodituwakku
In Sri Lanka, persecution of whistle-blowers, who refuse to give into illegal demands of politicians is a matter for concern, particularly in a situation where the Ministry of Finance has conceded that some revenue officers in the Customs have left the country in fear of their lives.

In the United Kingdom, the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, provides legal protection to workers who are victimised by employers for "blowing the whistle" about wrongdoing at work. Described as the most far-reaching "whistle-blowing" legislation in the world, it provides clear protection to officials who are dismissed or subjected to detriment for making certain disclosures i.e. a disclosure of information which, in the reasonable belief of the worker making the disclosure, concerns criminal offences, breaches of legal obligation, miscarriages of justice, health and safety dangers; · environmental risk; or any "cover-ups" relating to these matters.

Under this law, legal protection is also provided to disclosures to the media as well, but only where the matter is exceptionally serious and was not raised in the workplace because of fear of victimisation or cover-up, or where the matter was pursued internally or with a prescribed body but not dealt with properly.

Under this legislation, where a worker has made a protected disclosure and is either dismissed or subjected to any other detriment or persecution as a result of the disclosure, any such action will be unlawful and the worker may seek redress including damages from an employment tribunal. Dismissal will be regarded as automatically unfair if the reason for dismissal or selection for redundancy is because the employee made a protected disclosure. There will be no limit on compensatory awards in cases of such dismissal.

Another important feature of this legislation is that any term in a worker's contract, which purports to prevent the worker from making a protected disclosure will be void. The British government believes that this legislation can help ensure that potential disasters are averted and prevent colossal financial losses.

Recently, for the first time in Sri Lanka's history, the government acknowledged that at least five Customs officers had left the country in fear of their lives, in connection with revenue fraud investigations they refused to drop, under pressure brought on by politicos. However, in a circular issued to Customs officers, the Ministry of Finance has banned them from speaking to the media.

This action is considered bad from the people's viewpoint, particularly in an environment where revenue officers who perform public duty without fear or favour are targeted and eliminated by powerful fraudster-politico-cheats. The government has failed to realise that none of these officers would have left the country had the government taken the right measures to secure their protection from threats posed by the organized fraudster-politico-mafia. It is believed that the only reason for the government's inaction in protecting these officers (those who were murdered and others who left the country in fear) is due to these officers refusing to give into illegal demands that came from the top to suppress major revenue frauds, as in most cases powerful politicos were found involved. In these circumstances it is urged that civil society and political organisations that fight for the rights of the people should take up the initiative. In a country where sovereignty is enshrined with the people, the common man has every right to demand action, like in the UK, to introduce legal protection for officers who are not afraid to fight against wrongdoing.

(The writer currently resident in London is an Attorney-at-Law and former head of the Serious Fraud Investigations Unit of the Customs )

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