by Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island

January 24, 2017, 9:31 pm

President Maithripala Sirisena is looking at the possibility of the government acquiring the assets and funds of Perpetual Treasuries if the company is found guilty of causing a loss to the government by the Central Bank Bond scam, Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera told Parliament yesterday.

Participating in the debate on COPE report on the Treasury bond scam at the time of the adjournment of the House, the Minister said that there had been a fraud in Perpetual Treasuries

purchasing treasury bonds. “We will not whitewash the guilty. They should be punished. The President has instructed the appointment of a Presidential commission to probe the bond scandal. The commission will recommend the next steps to be taken”.

The Presidential commission would investigate the sales of treasury bonds and it would recommend a mechanism to be introduced so that the selling of treasury bonds would be done in a more transparent manner in the future, he said.

Leader of the House and Highways and Higher Education Minister Lakshman Kiriella said the government was bound to implement whatever recommendations that would be suggested by the Attorney General after perusing the COPE report. The much-hyped loss supposed to have been incurred by the government because of the treasury bond sale was a myth.

“We should punish anyone if found guilty. There is no doubt on that. But parliament cannot impose punishments. There are courts for that purpose. This matter had been challenged in the Supreme Court once. The court did not find anything wrong in the bond sale. The said loss is hypothetical. There is nothing illegal happened in the bond sale”, Kiriella said.

Opposition Leader R Sampanthan: Frauds and corruption are all over the country. The situation is not healthy for democracy. Now two years have passed since the incumbent government came to power. But none of those accused of corruption in the previous government has been punished. There are wrong doings taking place under the incumbent government too. But the culprits go scot-free. Rule of law should be upheld.

Megapolis and Western Province Development Minister Champika Ranawaka: Perpetual Treasuries Company has amassed profits unheard of through the said bond sale in a short time. That leads to suspicions. Therefore it is wise to investigate this issue. This government came to power not to protect thieves but to punish them.

City Planning and Water Supply Minister Rauff Hakeem: The move to appoint a presidential commission should be appreciated. That commission could look into all the deals in detail. If there is anything wrong that happened then those responsible should be punished.

JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake moving the motion for the debate said the government had suffered a loss of more than Rs 1674 million from the treasury bond sale that took place on Feb 27, 2015. The COPE found that the government had suffered a loss and legal action should be taken against the officials involved in the sale. We thank the Speaker for taking a bold action to hold this debate. The treasury bond sale is a serious issue. The company involved in this deal has earned profits that cannot be earned by even selling heroin. The Speaker should refer this matter to the CID.

Transport Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva: We totally agree with the findings of the COPE. We do not challenge the content of the COPE report. Some officials of the Central Bank have been accused of working against the interests of the country by the COPE report. It is the opinion of the SLFP that if found guilty in the treasury bond sale anyone or anybody should be punished irrespective of their positions.