Cabraal asks Sajith why they were silent when Rs 10 bn was released to PTL in 10 minutes

…nothing wrong with Rs 3.1 bn loan to D.S.Gunasekera

By Saman Indrajith

State Minister of Finance, Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal told Parliament yesterday that there was nothing wrong in the Bank of Ceylon releasing a Rs 3.1 billion loan facility to D.S. Gunasekera Company.

“The BoC has adhered to its procedures and followed all accepted methods in releasing that loan. Nothing wrong has happened in that transaction,” said Minister Cabraal, responding to a series of questions raised by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa on the loan facility.  “However, when 10 billion rupees was released in 10 minutes from the same bank to the Perpetual Treasuries in 2015 by a government in which you were a Cabinet minister, all of you kept silent. You should have raised questions then.”

Minister Cabraal said that the D.S. Gunasekera Company was operating in the North Central, Eastern, Central and the Southern Provinces. The company had its accounts at the Katuwana Branch of the BoC since 2015.  The company had been a customer of the BoC for 62 years since 1958. As per the audit reports of recent years, the company has shown an income increasing by 10 billion rupees in the years of 2017, 2018 and 2019.  The BoC has released the loan facility of Rs 3.1 billion considering the long standing relationship between the bank and the company and the latter’s financial feasibility. The bank had followed all accepted guidelines and procedures in releasing a pledge loan. The company used a sum of Rs 2.1 billion for stockpiling. In releasing the loan the bank had kept the stockpile as a pledge and it has been released in installments as the company settled their loan in installments.

Opposition leader Premadasa made a special statement alleging that the company named D.S. Gunasekara (Pvt.) Ltd. had obtained a sum of Rs. 3.1 billion from the BoC Katuwana branch as a pledge loan.