The Joint Opposition has challenged the Government's proposed Anti-Corruption Amendment Bill, arguing that restrictive bail clauses could violate constitutional rights and worsen Sri Lanka's severe prison overcrowding crisis.
The Joint Opposition released a formal statement today expressing significant reservations about the Government's Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Bill, particularly targeting provisions that would restrict bail eligibility for corruption-related offences. The opposition contends that Clause 17, which amends the Anti-Corruption Act of 2023, imposes overly rigid constraints on judicial discretion by making all offences under the Act cognizable and non-bailable, with bail available only in exceptional cases determined by the High Court for bribes exceeding Rs. 100,000 or corruption involving losses or benefits of Rs. 500,000 or more.
According to the Opposition's statement, these measures would undermine fundamental constitutional protections, particularly the presumption of innocence and the right to personal liberty guaranteed under Article 13 of the Constitution. The group warns that stricter bail provisions would inevitably extend pre-trial detention periods and subject more suspects to lengthy imprisonment before trial.
The Opposition grounded its concerns in documented evidence of prison overcrowding, citing Right to Information data released by BBC Sinhala on August 2. Major facilities are operating at three to five times their approved capacity—Negombo Prison houses 2,403 inmates against a capacity of 496, while Welikada, Colombo Remand, and Magazine Prisons face similarly acute overcrowding. The Opposition directly linked these conditions to recent prison violence, including the deadly Negombo Prison riot on July 5–6 that resulted in 28 deaths and unrest at Mahara Prison on August 1.
The Opposition has called on the Government to withdraw or substantially revise Clause 17 and appealed to international organisations including the UNDP, EU, ADB, and the Government of Japan to assess the human-rights implications of the proposed bail regime.
