President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has announced that the bill to recover illegally acquired assets will be presented to Parliament on April 8.
Speaking at a public meeting in Welipitiya, Matara, the President emphasized that those involved in corruption and criminal activity will no longer be allowed to govern the country.
“How can a government punish the corrupt? How can a government punish criminals? The government has laws. On April 8, we will pass a law in Parliament to recover assets that have been stolen—assets that have been illegally acquired. We have no intention of taking personal revenge on anyone. This is about upholding the rule of law in our country. Our aim is to restore sovereignty to our motherland,” he stated.
The President also mentioned that preparations for the 2026 budget will begin in June this year.
He further stated that numerous foreign-funded development projects that were previously halted due to the economic crisis will be resumed.
“The Japanese government had abandoned 11 projects funded by JICA. They have now agreed to restart all of them, which reflects economic stability. You are all aware that the Kadawatha-Mirigama highway section, funded by China’s Exim Bank, was halted when the country went bankrupt. The project was stopped, and we incurred a loss of 5.6 billion rupees. We were paying 21 million rupees per day in interest to the Chinese company. However, after renewed discussions with the Chinese government during our visit, we secured agreements to restart the halted expressway and 76 additional new projects. This is further evidence that the economy is stabilizing,” the President added.
