“Senasinghe knows his arguments on CB bond issue were wrong”: DEW

By Chamodi Gunawardana

Deputy Justice Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe requested the cancellation of the enjoining order preventing the publication or circulation of the COPE report on the Central Bank bonds issue due to fear, the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) charged yesterday.

Former Senior Minister and Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) Chairman D.E.W. Gunasekara alleged that the Colombo District Court had dissolved the enjoining order following the request made by the petitioner Senasinghe since the latter realised he was in the wrong.

“‘Treasury Bonds’ have been banned words over the last few days. However, Senasinghe has now requested that the order be withdrawn so we can now we make the report public. We believe that he made that request because he was afraid. He already knows that his arguments on the Central Bank bond issue were wrong,” Gunasekara noted.

Attacking Senasinghe further, the COPE Chairman alleged that Senasinghe tried to use the COPE report as a publicity stunt.

“Senasinghe made a number of false arguments and comments on the COPE report and put Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in a terrible situation too. He continuously talked about this at election meetings to gain publicity,” Gunasekara claimed.

Commenting on money market liquidity, Gunasekara pointed out that it had reduced to Rs. 62 billion in the second week of July, while it had been at Rs. 370 billion in January 2015. 

“Inflation and interest rates have increased and the private sector has been facing a number of difficulties. These rates would show how well the Finance Minister controls the country’s finance sector,” he accused.

He added that the UPFA would propose some changes to the direct and indirect tax policy through its manifesto.

“We expect to introduce a new tax policy and it would depend more on direct taxes. We believe it will create a progressive economy,” COPE Chairman explained.

Matara District Organiser and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Vice President Dullas Alahapperuma asserted that if the LTTE caused any harm to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Wickremesinghe and his Government should be held responsible for it.

“Two days ago, the Press Trust of India has published that two Sri Lankan Tamils were arrested along with communication gadgets and cyanide in the Ramanathapuram District. One has been identified as Krishnakumar and he was a close associate of slain LTTE Leader Prabhakaran. Krishnakumar was planning to come to Sri Lanka by illegal ferry when he was arrested. We could presume that he wanted to come back to kill Rajapaksa,” Alahapperuma stressed.

National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader and UPFA candidate Wimal Weerawansa alleged that the United National Party (UNP) Government was planning to sell Petroleum Corporation to a private company.

“We have accumulated some secret information on the Government. It has a plan to sell Petroleum Corporation to Bharat Petroleum. They tried two times to do so during the UNP’s tenure in office. Somehow they will sell Sathosa to Cargills Ltd. and Litro Gas Lanka Ltd. to Shell Gas too,” Weerawansa claimed.