COLOMBO -- Sri Lanka is under pressure to show it is serious about eradicating corruption, as the bankrupt South Asian nation prepares for the first review of its International Monetary Fund bailout package in September.
About a month ago, Sri Lanka's Parliament took a critical step in approving new anti-corruption legislation. But experts and the political opposition note that the country had such laws on the books for years but was still plagued by graft. The huge protests that brought down the government of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last year focused, in part, on allegations that endemic corruption contributed to the economic crisis that caused a sovereign debt default and severe shortages of essentials.
