The Joint Opposition has called on international development partners backing Sri Lanka’s anti-corruption reforms to examine the human rights implications of the proposed Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Bill.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Joint Opposition Convener Professor G.L. Peiris urged the United Nations Development Programme, the European Union, the Asian Development Bank and the Government of Japan to review the legislation. Those partners have provided technical and financial assistance to strengthen the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) and other justice sector institutions.
The Opposition asked them to assess the proposed bail regime in light of prison overcrowding, to engage with the government on legislation that does not worsen pre-trial detention, and to ensure continued support for anti-corruption work remains consistent with international human rights standards.
While reiterating its support for tackling corruption, the group said such measures should not come at the expense of fundamental rights or add further pressure to an already overcrowded prison system. It said it would continue raising its concerns in Parliament and other public forums.
What the bill changes
The government has gazetted an amendment to the 2023 Anti-Corruption Act. Under the principal Act, offences are cognisable and non-bailable, but a magistrate must grant bail in line with the Bail Act No. 30 of 1997.
The amendment removes that route for larger cases. Where a suspect is accused of soliciting, accepting or offering a bribe of at least Rs. 100,000, or of causing a government loss or gaining an advantage of at least Rs. 500,000 — as certified by CIABOC’s Director-General — bail can be granted only in exceptional circumstances, and only by the High Court rather than a magistrate, the Sunday Times reported.
The bill also introduces mandatory financial penalties. A convicted person who acquired or converted property as proceeds of corruption faces an additional penalty of not less than three times the value of that property, and where corruption caused a loss to the state, the court must impose a further penalty equal to the full amount of that loss. The principal Act had capped fines at Rs. 1 million and left recovery of state losses to judicial discretion.
The bail question lands against a prison system holding roughly four times its design capacity, which the government is separately trying to relieve through proposed house arrest legislation.
Update (August 5): Opposition publishes prison capacity data behind its objection
The Joint Opposition issued a fuller statement on Wednesday, again signed by Prof. G.L. Peiris, setting out the prison figures it says make the bail clause untenable and calling on the government to withdraw or substantially amend Clause 17.
The statement said the amendment would confine residual bail discretion to the High Court alone, reducing the role of the Magistrates’ Courts in protecting liberty, and would lead to prolonged pre-trial detention for a wider range of suspects — “many of whom may ultimately be acquitted or whose cases may take years to conclude.” It argued the clause undermines the presumption of innocence and the right to personal liberty under Article 13 of the Constitution, and the principle that “bail should be the rule and jail the exception.”
To support the argument, it cited Ministry of Justice and Department of Prisons data obtained by BBC Sinhala under the Right to Information Act and published on August 2. As of July 4, the figures given were:
- Welikada Prison: approved capacity 839, holding 3,400 inmates
- Colombo Remand Prison: approved capacity 328, holding 2,782 inmates
- Magazine Prison: approved capacity 499, holding 3,046 inmates
- Negombo Prison: approved capacity 496, holding 2,403 inmates
The same RTI response, the statement said, showed that as of December 31, 2025 roughly 90 per cent of those in custody had been held for less than a year as suspects, and that as of May 31, 2026 some 15,607 suspects remained in prison awaiting Government Analyst reports.
The Opposition tied those numbers directly to the Negombo Prison riot of July 5–6, in which 28 people died including prison officers, and to the subsequent unrest at Mahara, where it said more than 4,100 inmates were held on August 1. It called both the “direct, foreseeable consequences” of chronic overcrowding, and said tighter non-bailable provisions in that environment would further inflate the remand population.
The statement repeated the appeal to the UNDP, the European Union — naming its JURE project — the Asian Development Bank and the Government of Japan to examine the human rights implications of the proposed bail regime in light of the RTI data.
Sources: Daily Mirror, Daily Mirror, Sunday Times.
