Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse's presidential campaign team is unfairly using public resources to further his election bid, the local arm of corruption watchdog Transparency International said on Thursday.
Sri Lanka's elections commissioner has ordered both Rajapakse and his main opponent, opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, to desist from using state resources in the run-up to a November 17 presidential election, but to no avail, it added.
"It amounts to millions if not billions of rupees (of state funds)," J.C. Weliamuna, director of Transparency International Sri Lanka told a news conference, adding Rajapakse was taking unfair advantage of being in power.
Neither Rajapakse nor his campaign team were immediately available for comment.
Transparency is helping to monitor the election, along with observers from the European Union, Asia and Sri Lanka, some of whom fear the poll will be marred by violence amid a spate of attacks the Tamil Tigers and military - technically on a truce since 2002 - each blame on the other.
Rajapakse's team was using his official residence, Airforce helicopters, government vehicles and advertising space in the state controlled media on credit for political purposes, going against the orders of the island's elections commissioner, Weliamuna said.
Sri Lanka's constitution and election laws prohibit the abuse of public property for electioneering, but it has been systematically violated by subsequent governments over the years, he added.
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