Handunetti disappointed Perpetual Treasuries not delisted by Central Bank

JVP Parliamentarian Sunil Handunetti yesterday expressed disappointment that Perpetual Treasuries remained on the list of registered primary dealers with Central Bank several weeks after the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) that he chaired had released a damning report implicating the controversial investment company in the Treasury bond scam of February 2015. 

Speaking at a seminar on COPE and the ‘Responsibility of Parliament’, the COPE Chairman said that the Government and the Central Bank should at least have delisted Perpetual Treasuries until an investigation into the firm was complete, especially after the revelations made in the COPE report released three weeks ago. 

“Today, this same company is using their windfall profits to buy stakes in other banks. They are buying banks now. They are starting newspaper companies. What else are they supposed to do with their gains?” Handunetti charged during his speech. 

It was remarkable, the COPE Chairman noted, that a company that had a capital investment of only Rs. 300 million had managed to make windfall profits in excess of Rs. 5 billion in such a short time. “This is a company where their only transactions involve Treasury bond auctions. They borrow money from the State to buy Government securities and then sell those same bonds back to the Government in the secondary market to buyers like EPF,” Handunetti explained. 

Companies like Perpetual Treasuries however, could simply say that this was ‘business as usual’, he said. 

“The real danger is that this could set a precedent,” the COPE Chairman warned. “The survival of a country relies upon its ability to manage its finances.” 

Handunetti said that during its deliberations on the Treasury bond issue, COPE concerned itself less with the private company and more with the question of whether officials at the Central Bank had worked to ensure that losses to the Government from these transactions were minimised or not. “Who did these officials serve? Did they seek to minimise the risk to the State, or did they work to ensure a private company maximised its profits?” he said, explaining the questions his oversight committee concerned itself with. 

The JVP Parliamentarian who was widely hailed for his integrity and courage to release the damning COPE report in the face of immense Government pressure said the Treasury bond scandal was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to the abuse of public monies. “There is so much corruption that we have not even begun to investigate, but my point is that I hope that at least when it comes to the fraud that has been uncovered, justice will be served,” he asserted. 

The COPE Chairman said that if the findings were not acted on, the parliamentary oversight system and Parliament itself would become a big joke in the eyes of the public. 

He clarified that COPE was not a court of law and its only role was to recommend to Parliament and the executive branch of Government – the President, Cabinet and the Bureaucracy - what legal and remedial actions should be taken. “It is up to the Government now to act on this report,” the JVP MP explained. 

Handunetti said that it was his hope that the Government would not fall prey to petty political agendas as it dealt with the findings of the COPE report. “I remain hopeful. I remain optimistic that the political leaders – at least the smarter ones among them – will make decisions on this issue for the good of the country as a whole rather than their political gain,” he noted. 

The JVP MP also blasted certain politicians who he said had been trying to whitewash their own corruption because they had played a role in drafting the COPE report on the bond scam. “Some of them are giving press briefings and saying ‘what was fraud during our time compared to this corruption?’” Handunetti said. COPE had highlighted these corrupt dealings in a comprehensive report on State enterprises that was tabled in Parliament several months ago, the COPE Chairman observed. “Corruption that happened then has been covered in the full COPE report, corruption happening now has been covered in the COPE Central Bank investigation report,” Handunetti quipped, adding, “Corruption in the future will also be exposed by COPE.”