Advisor for the Anti-Corruption Front, Keerthi Tennakoon, stated that yesterday's revelations on Panama Papers showcased the need to introduce a formal procedure regarding state financial crimes.

Panama Papers recently revealed information regarding 22 Sri Lanka-related accounts, 19 persons, their addresses, and the financial institutions and services they negotiated with.

Tennakoon stated that although it was not illegal to maintain accounts in foreign banks according to the law of the country, relevant taxes should be levied to Central Bank and the details of the accounts should be presented. He suggested that a formal procedure must be introduced to investigate whether the account holders have paid the taxes.

The responsibility of the government is to take steps to return the enormous amounts of funds gone from Sri Lanka because of the mismanagement of foreign exchange and levy the relevant taxes, he stressed.