Govt. Printer summoned before Presidential COI over CB Bond Scam

The Government Printer Gangani Kalpana Liyanage has been summoned today to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the issuance of Central Bank Treasury bonds.

She is expected to be questioned over the printing of 1 January 2015 Extraordinary Gazette No. 1895/19, the existence of which came to light when Treasury Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga appeared before the commission last Thursday.

According to the Finance Ministry, when issuing a gazette by any Minister, the relevant institution should send the draft to the Secretary of the line Ministry. The Secretary then obtains legal and technical clearance from the relevant officials in the Ministry and submits the gazette for the signature of the Minister. Only after the Minister’s signature is obtained is the gazette sent to the Government Printer for publication. 

The Finance Ministry alleged that the Central Bank had not followed this procedure with this gazette in the recent past. Instead, the Superintendent of the Public Debt Department had directly sent it to the Government Printer after getting legal clearance from Central Bank lawyers.