Speaker to send COPE report on bond scam to AG

• Joint Opposition appeals for copy to be sent to police  

Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya informed the Legislature yesterday that the COPE report on the alleged Central Bank Treasury bond scam would be sent to the Attorney General amidst appeals by the Joint Opposition to send it to the police as well. 

“If you all are in agreement, I can send the COPE report on this bond transaction to the AG,” the Speaker said in a special announcement. 

He said several MPs had raised questions about what steps should be taken next with regard to the COPE report on the controversial treasury bond auction. 

“I believe that this decision must be made by this assembly,” the Speaker said.

Speaker Jayasuriya said he did not know of any other occasions on which COPE reports debated in Parliament have been sent to the Attorney General. “However, I am certain that doing so in this instance would be a good example for the future,” he added.

“I feel that it would be appropriate in the future, for investigations conducted by Parliamentary oversight committees to be sent on to the Attorney General for further action.” Joint Opposition MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara led the appeal for the COPE report to be sent to the police for a criminal investigation in addition to the Attorney General. However, Jayasuriya rejected the appeal by insisting that if such a step is needed it would be taken by the Attorney General.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the House last year that the report would be sent to the AG, to determine if legal action could be filed.

Deputy Minister of Public Enterprise Development Eran Wickremaratne also told Parliament during the adjournment debate on the COPE report on Tuesday (24) that the Attorney General had directed the CID to conduct investigations based on the COPE report.

The Deputy Minister also said that the current Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy had imposed certain restrictions on the brokering company linked to the former Governor’s son-in-law, limiting its activities and making it harder for the company to take money outside the country.

The COPE report on the controversial Treasury bond auction conducted by the Central Bank in February 2015 found former Governor Arjuna Mahendran “directly responsible” for a dubious transaction that allowed Perpetual Treasuries, a primary dealer linked to his son-in-law Arjun Aloysius, to make billions of rupees in profits. Lawmakers this week accused Perpetual Treasuries of dumping the Government securities on the Employees Provident Fund in the secondary market, at much higher prices, resulting in major losses to the private pension fund managed by the Central Bank, which is also authorised to bid directly in Treasury Bond auctions. Lawmakers also questioned during Tuesday’s debate, how Perpetual Treasuries had increased its assets from Rs. 310 million to Rs. 23 billion in only two years. (DB)