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Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Vijitha Herath
By Charumini de Silva
Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Vijitha Herath yesterday reiterated Government’s commitment to resume the investigations into the infamous Central Bank bond scam with a focus in prosecuting prime suspects of the scandal.
Speaking at the post-Cabinet meeting media briefing, he dismissed recent claims by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s spokesman, who stated that the Wickremesinghe never sought Presidential immunity in connection with legal proceeding related to the manipulating of bond auctions in 2015 and 2016, causing losses of over $ 11 million to the State.
“The entire country knows that when the bond scam took place, Ranil Wickremesinghe was both Prime Minister and Finance Minister and his ally Arjuna Mahendran was serving as the Governor of the Central Bank. These two are the prime suspects in this massive fraud,” he claimed.
Herath added that previous investigations were incomplete and compromised due to lack of action against the ‘big wigs involvement’.
Cabinet Spokesman charged that Wickremesinghe, as the Finance Minister at the time, bears direct responsibility for the scandal, which saw irregularities in bond issuance and alleged financial misconduct that caused losses to the State.
He also noted that previous investigations under Parliamentary committees, such as the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) were derailed due to political interference and the dismissal of Parliament during the inquiry process.
The bond scam which came to light in 2016 centred on the Central Bank’s controversial issuance of Treasury bonds, allegedly at the direction of Mahendran, a close associate of Wickremesinghe. The scandal prompted widespread public outrage and led to numerous calls for accountability.
“Despite many investigations conducted over the years, people of the country know that justice has not yet been served and it is obvious when prime suspects were not prosecuted,” he stressed, noting that there were clear attempts by certain parties to prevent prosecution by adding footnotes to COPE reports, deflecting blame.
“Wickremesinghe avoided legal action by invoking Presidential immunity during his term, but now he is no longer in office and we are determined to pursue justice and hold perpetrators accountable,” he added.
Herath assured the public that the new Government led by the National People’s Power (NPP) is committed to ending corruption and brining transparency to governance.
“The public elected us with the expectation that we would root out corrupt practices and restore a just administration. We will take every necessary step to ensure that those who have committed crimes are punished,” he added.
