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Sri Lankan Top Investment Official Resigns Over Bribery
A top official of Sri Lankan Board of Investment (BOI) who is in charge of foreign investment in the war-torn country resigned on Monday following a bribery charge against him.
Thilan Wijesinghe, Chairman of BOI submitted his resignation on Monday after the country's Commission to Investigate Bribery and Corruption filed court proceedings against him for demanding a bribe of one million U.S. dollars and then taking 2 million rupees (around 23,530 U.S. dollars) from a foreign investor who wanted to set up a flour mill in the southern city of Galle.
The commission has been investigating the investor's complaint for a year and filed action last week. Wijesinghe's lawyers last week preempted his arrest by petitioning the Supreme Court against the move and a hearing on the case has been put off until April 4.
The state-run Daily News said on Monday that Wijesinhe has been asked to quit by President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
Wijesinghe, who spent five years at the post, said he was stepping down to clear his name.
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