Regulatory Investigations & Compliance
Administrative appeals, investigations, enforcement exposure, and compliance-sensitive advisory work across regulated sectors.
II · Overview
How we approach compliance.
This practice covers administrative and regulatory matters where the consequences extend beyond routine compliance into investigation, appeal, enforcement, or constitutional challenge.
We advise on regulatory investigations, administrative-law compliance, appellate representation, securities and exchange offences, environmental or public-health violations, and enforcement-facing corporate risk.
Sri Lanka's financial-crime and regulatory framework has been rebuilt in stages, and the current shape matters for anyone assessing exposure. The Anti-Corruption Act No. 9 of 2023 replaced the Bribery Act and the CIABOC Act, strengthened the Commission, and extended offences into the private sector. Money-laundering exposure runs through the Prevention of Money Laundering Act No. 5 of 2006 and the reporting obligations in the Financial Transactions Reporting Act No. 6 of 2006, with the Proceeds of Crime Act No. 5 of 2025 adding a further asset-recovery dimension.
An investigation usually arrives as a request for documents, not as an allegation, and the response to that first request often determines everything after it. What is produced, how it is described, and who inside the organisation handles it all have consequences that are difficult to unwind. Those decisions are better taken with advice than in the twenty-four hours after the request lands.
The compliance side is the same problem approached earlier: reporting obligations, sanctions screening against the UN regulations, asset-declaration requirements, and internal procedures that will be examined for whether they were real or merely written down.
The work is often sensitive, document-heavy, and reputationally important, requiring legal advice that is both technically sound and strategically restrained.
III · Index of Services
What we handle.
Administrative law and appeals
Supreme Court and appellate representation
Constitutional challenges
Administrative law compliance
Regulatory investigations
Securities and exchange offences
Environmental and public health violations
Corporate regulatory compliance and enforcement actions
IV · Representations
We have acted for those who require discretion.
Corporate entities
Directors and officers
Regulated businesses
Parties facing administrative action
V · Connected Writing
Insights, in context.
VI · Common Questions
Questions we are often asked.
- What changed under the Anti-Corruption Act No. 9 of 2023?
- It consolidated and replaced the Bribery Act and the CIABOC Act, strengthened the Commission's investigative footing, widened asset-declaration obligations, and extended bribery offences into the private sector. For companies, the practical shift is that conduct once treated as a public-sector concern now carries direct corporate exposure.
- Does an internal investigation attract privilege?
- Not automatically, and how the exercise is set up matters more than what it is called. Whether material is protected depends on who instructed the work, its dominant purpose, and how findings are recorded and circulated. Investigations begun informally and put on a proper footing later are the ones that most often produce disclosable material.
- How should a company respond to a regulatory investigation?
- Preserve documents, decide who may speak for the company, and take advice before responding. Early legal structure helps protect privilege, keep the record orderly, and avoid statements that narrow later options.
- Can a regulator's decision be appealed?
- Often yes. Many regulatory statutes provide an internal appeal, and administrative decisions may also be challenged by writ in the Court of Appeal under Article 140 where they are unlawful or unreasonable.
- Do you advise directors facing personal exposure?
- Yes. The chambers advises directors and officers on personal liability arising from regulatory and enforcement action, and represents them in the related proceedings.
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VII · Engage Counsel
Discuss your matter.
Conversations with the Chambers are confidential. We respond within one working day.
