Wield the big stick on visa racketeers

The Government could give the people undisputable proof of its commitment to clean governance by getting to the bottom of a visa racket which is believed to have been operated at a prominent Ministry. Once the truth is bared, the culprits must be brought to justice, whatever their positions and powers in public life.

Reports indicated that some persons connected to a Minister had sent job seekers abroad on false visas, which racket, apparently, was put into operation in the Ministry premises. They are said to have earned fabulous sums of money through these devious means.

We are given to understand that a CID probe is on and commend the launching of these investigations without further ado but are more eager to learn the results of the probe. Of even greater significance is the need to nab the kingpins of the racket. Subjecting them to the due process of law would be the crowning achievement of the authorities in this case.

It was only yesterday that we decried in this comment the proliferation of fraudulent practices in even as reputed a State institution as the Inland Revenue Department.

Apparently, the big stink which is corruption is enveloping almost the whole of public life and leaving nothing, unbesmirched. For how long could the State lay back and let it happen? We call on President Mahinda Rajapakse to wield the big stick on all wrong-doers - big or small, influential or uninfluential.

A visa racket is an explosive issue on account of its implications for Sri Lanka's international image. It is quite some time since people-smuggling rackets, operated in this country, were brought out into the open.

The blow to Lanka's reputation is even greater when seemingly authentic travel documents, bearing an aura of legality, are proved to be bogus. Needless to say, the good name of this country and its people is irredeemably sullied.

Connected embarrassments are the disappearing acts of some sportsmen when they travel abroad and those who overstay their visas, warranting their immediate deportation. Coupled with people smuggling and the act of travelling abroad on forged documents, these irregularities earn for Sri Lanka utter disrepute and shame.

No clemency, therefore, should be shown to these hordes of racketeers and conmen. The law should be enforced in these matters with absolute impartiality and rigour.

As we emphasized yesterday, the price of engaging in misdoings should be made prohibitively high. This is one of the most effective ways of ending the plethora of vices assailing local public life. Besides, the law should be enforced impartially. No one should be considered above the law, in other words.

We need to concede that we are in dire need of independent and autonomous State institutions for the curtailment of these crimes. It is essential that these organisations, which would be accountable to the State and the people, are free of political interference.

It cannot be denied that a national consensus exists on the need for autonomous State institutions of this kind, which could prove beneficial in the depoliticization of public life. Accordingly, such institutions should be brought into existence and the obstacles getting in the way of their creation, swiftly removed. Thus could a case be made for the revival of the Constitutional Council.

Enough is enough, we say. Let us be rid of parasites who prey on the State and the people.