Sirisena to take action if RK doesn’t resign: Lakshman Yapa

By Chathuri Dissanayake 

Hinting at possible drastic measures to be taken by the President if the Foreign Minister fails to resign from his ministerial post, a senior SLFP Minister yesterday said Ravi Karunanayake may meet the same fate as former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran.

Under pressure to take action against Former Finance Minister Karunanayake for his alleged involvement in the controversial bond issue in 2015, State Minister for Public Enterprise Development Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena claimed that those accused of being involved in the transaction should resign.

With an indirect call for Karunanayake’s resignation in the light of new information that has been revealed by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the 2015 bond issue, Abeywardana claimed that if found innocent the Minister could return after clearing his name.

“Those who have been involved should leave. If not the President will take action like how he removed the Central Bank Governor. It will be the decision the people expect,” he said, adding that if people were confident of the innocence of those accused there would be not have been a no-confidence motion presented in Parliament against such individuals.

The Minister also said the incident and its repercussions should be a lesson for other politicians.

“Politicians’ character can be revealed through this. Delays in making a decision on the matter will only reveal the true character of the persons concerned,” he said.

Confident of the action to be taken by President Maithripala Sirisena, Abeywardana said that his party would not face a difficult decision in the event the no-confidence motion was put before Parliament.

Defending his party’s continued coalition with the United National Party, the Minister stressed that an investigation into the incident or revelations that have come before the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Bond Issue would not have occurred if not for the checks and balances in place through the formation of the National Government.

“We have been criticised for remaining in the Government when such corruption has happened. But it was only because we were there that it has been revealed. People got to know the details because the President appointed a Presidential Commission to look into the matter,” he pointed out.

“Those members who spoke to protect the wrongdoers earlier are now silent. We have maintained our stand to investigate from the beginning that is why others were not able to make unilateral decisions on the matter.”

Tracing the action taken by the Sirisena-led SLFP, he highlighted that the party’s Central Committee made recommendations to appoint a commission to investigate the matter, recover losses from those found guilty and to limit the transactions of the companies alleged to be involved in the scam.

“The report by the SLFP special committee highlighted that the loss to the country was calculated at Rs. 1 trillion over a 30-year period. We have maintained our stance to ensure that action is taken against the offenders,” Abeywardena stressed.