Sri Lanka to keep politicians’ asset declarations open to public

The Sri Lanka government has decided to keep the asset and liability declarations of elected representatives open to the public while amending the Anti-Corruption Act to strengthen privacy protections for others.

Leader of the House and Minister Bimal Rathnayake announced the decision in a special statement to Parliament today (August 06).

He said the proposed amendments to the Anti-Corruption Act would address growing privacy concerns while maintaining transparency and public accountability for politicians and other public representatives.

Rathnayake explained that the Anti-Corruption Act No. 9 of 2023 introduced a major reform requiring senior public officials, political leaders and other designated individuals to submit detailed declarations of their assets and liabilities.

Initially, about 300 individuals, including the President and senior political office holders, were required to submit printed declarations.

However, amendments introduced in 2025 moved the declaration process to a centralized electronic system. This expanded the number of people required to submit declarations to nearly 160,000.

They include public officials and other individuals legally required to provide financial disclosures to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption.

Under the current law, the public can access all declarations submitted through the online system. Rathnayake described this as an important step towards greater transparency and accountability.

However, he said concerns have increased over the alleged misuse of information contained in the declarations by certain individuals and media-related actors.

The declarations can include personal financial information about the person concerned, as well as details relating to family members and children.

Rathnayake said some information from asset declarations had been selectively extracted, distorted and publicly circulated in ways that went against the original purpose of the law.

While describing the legislation as a positive and democratic measure, he acknowledged that concerns had emerged about its effect on personal privacy.

He said the Anti-Corruption Commission had therefore decided to propose amendments to the Act.

One of the main proposals being considered is to restrict unrestricted public access to all asset and liability declarations currently available through the online system.

However, Rathnayake stressed that the government had made a policy decision that these restrictions would not apply to public representatives.

Therefore, the asset and liability declarations of elected representatives, including politicians, will remain publicly accessible even after the amendments are enacted.

He said the government intends to protect the public’s right to examine the financial disclosures of politicians while introducing safeguards for non-political individuals, including public servants and others covered by the law.

The proposed amendments will distinguish between public representatives, who are directly accountable to voters, and other individuals whose personal and family information may require greater privacy protection.