Deputy Minister Eran Wickremaratne yesterday dismissed claims by former COPE Chairman and Joint Opposition Member D.E.W. Gunesekera and the Joint Opposition that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was responsible for the alleged bond scam. 

Addressing a press briefing at Sirikotha yesterday, Wickremaratne said that as the Minister in charge of the subject, the Prime Minister’s responsibility was to appoint a qualified individual who could pass a fit and proper assessment as Central Bank Governor. 

“In my opinion, the Prime Minister cannot be held responsible for the conduct or actions of that appointed individual,” Wickremaratne said. 

Wickremaratne noted that his Ministry, State Enterprise Development had dozens of public sector enterprises and officials appointed by the Government to all those boards. 

“Our responsibility is to appoint fit and proper persons to those positions. If those individuals act unscrupulously, we cannot be held responsible,” the Deputy Minister charged. 

“However, our responsibility extends a little further. When there are allegations against those individuals it is our responsibility to create the space for investigations, whether the President appointed the person, or the Prime Minister did,” he explained. 

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has created the space to discuss the issue, to submit a report recommending legal action against his appointee, the Deputy Minister said.

“In my opinion, this is a triumph for democracy,” Wickremaratne claimed. 

He added that it was the current Government that had made the Chairman of COPE a member of the Opposition. “Under the previous administration, it was a Government Minister who was appointed as Chair of COPE. Is it even imaginable that a subject under President Mahinda Rajapaksa could have been investigated by COPE when the Chairman was a Minister in his Cabinet?” the Deputy Minister charged. 

The former banker turned politician also vowed that the Government was prepared to bring new legislation to ensure there was a framework to prosecute those responsible for the alleged bond scam. 

Former COPE Chairman Gunasekera claimed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s role in the alleged bond scam had to be questioned because he appointed a foreign national to head the Central Bank.