‘Parliament’s response pathetic’

DEW’s 2015 COPE report never tabled

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE)   Charitha Herath said yesterday (4) that judicial process in respect of the treasury bond scams perpetrated in Feb 2015 and March 2016 had been delayed due to Sri Lanka’s inability to serve indictment on fugitive Central Bank Governor Singaporean passport holder Arjuna Mahendran.

SLPP National List MP Herath said so when The Island sought clarification with regard to the status of action taken by Parliament in that regard. Herath said that the report on treasury bond scams prepared by COPE during JVP MP Sunil Handunetti’s tenure as its Chairman was available. The data available therein were quite useful and could be utilized, the lawmaker said.

Responding to another query, one-time Media Ministry Secretary and University don Herath said that he wasn’t aware of the status of the Presidential Commission report on treasury bond scams that was handed over to Parliament.

The Island pointed out to the COPE Chairman that the report handed over in early 2018 hadn’t been debated so far though the parliament gave an assurance to that effect. MP Herath said that the Ministry of Defence, the police and the Attorney General’s Department had been involved in the process though it couldn’t be brought to a successful conclusion so far. Sri Lanka requested Singapore to deport Mahendran over a year ago. The request was made by the Defence Ministry in the second week of Sept 2019 in the run-up to the presidential election in Nov. Legal sources said that the then government took up the issue with Singapore consequent to the Permanent High Court at Bar where 10 persons, including the former Central Bank Governor, his son-in-law Arjuna Aloysius of Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) and its CEO Kasun Palisena were charged with criminal misappropriation of public property. Sources said that Singapore had officially informed the government of Sri Lanka why Mahendran wouldn’t be handed over under the present circumstances. Mahendran is wanted for accepting Rs. 10.058 billion worth of bids at the 27 February 2015 auction, the first scam perpetrated within weeks after the 2015 presidential election. The then President Maithripala Sirisena replaced Mahendran with Dr. Indrajith Coormaswamy in July 2016. Former COPE Chairman Dew Gunasekera questioned the failure on the part of the Parliament to conduct a debate on the Presidential bond scam report received in January 2018. Gunasekera said that Parliament owed the country an explanation why a debate couldn’t be held for nearly three years.

Responding to The Island queries, Gunasekera said that in spite of the subject being listed in the Order Paper during the previous administration it was never taken up. The former Communist Party General Secretary pointed out that parliament should have properly taken up that issue even before receiving the treasury bond scam report. Gunasekera, who headed the 13-member special COPE subcommittee that investigated the first scam, said that he recently went through his 442 page report on the first treasury bond scam. Asked why he never submitted the report to Parliament five years after the investigation, the former Minister said that he couldn’t as the then President Sirisena dissolved parliament on the night of June 26, 2015, the day before he was to table it in the House. As the report couldn’t be presented before the dissolution, it couldn’t be tabled at all, former National List MP Gunasekera said.

“Such a valuable document never received parliamentary recognition,” the veteran leftist politician said. The CPSL General Secretary was not accommodated on the UPFA National List following the 2015 general election. Gunasekera recalled how when he questioned Mahendran in respect of the first treasury bond scam, the CBSL Governor revealed receiving instructions from Premier Wickremesinghe who held policy planning and economic affairs portfolios. Mahendran’s revelation included in the COPE report is significant as by January 18, 2015, the CBSL had been brought under Wickremesinghe, the former Minister said. Gunasekera emphasized that the CBSL shouldn’t have been removed from the Finance Ministry purview, a controversial move that was meant to effectively thwart possible intervention by President Sirisena. Gunasekera urged the Parliament to address the issue at hand.

The former minister pointed out that the treasury bond scams contributed heavily to the UNP’s crushing defeat at the last parliamentary election. Of the four UNPers summoned by the Presidential Commission, Wickremesinghe and Ravi Karunanayake suffered defeat at the last general, Malik Samarawickrema quit parliamentary politics whereas Kabir Hashim switched allegiance to the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB). “Those responsible for the first scam brazenly manipulated Parliament. Imagine, they got Parliament dissolved and perpetrated the second far bigger fraud in late March 2016.

 Investigations revealed how PTL provided funds to some lawmakers though all names were never revealed.” the former minister said. Alleging that the establishment failed to properly handle the treasury bond scams, Gunasekera said, adding that the overall failure to investigate Sri Lanka’s worst post-independence financial fraud exposed the limitations in the system. However, successful system manipulation couldn’t save the UNP from its worst defeat that brought the once great party to its knees, Gunasekera said, pointing out the reduction of parliamentary strength from 106 seats to one NL slot, destroyed the UNP.