The JVP demands the government to take legal action against the governor of Central Bank and others who were involved in the Central Bank bond scam and to recover the money defrauded by the scammers. The General Secretary of the JVP Comrade Tilvin Silva held the press conference at the head office of the JVP today (9th) to present a set of proposals to be implemented immediately to take action regarding the COPE report. The Member of the Political Bureau of the JVP Comrade Lal Kantha too was present.
Comrade Tilvin Silva said addressing the media conference said, “The government, instead of taking action on the released COPE report, is making various statements. The ministers of the government too say at various places that fraudsters should be arrested. Former President too is making a big fuss. They attempt to make use of the bond scam a cover to conceal their frauds and make the people forget charges against them. Ministers such as Ajith P. Perera and Dilan Perera say bond thieves must be caught. When ministers talk in such a way we have a doubt as to whose government is this. What they are really doing is attempting to deceive masses instead of taking legal action against the Central Bank bond scam. It is like the trick of thief crying ‘stop thief’. The people don’t see a thief. This is really insanity. Hence the JVP decided to pressurize the government in connection with the immediate action that should be taken on Central Bank bond scam.
A mandate was received on 8th January, 2015 to end the corrupt Rajapaksa family rule. The people wanted legal action to be taken against fraudsters and the corrupt. However, by 27th February a large scale fraud was committed inside the government. It is an incident related to issuing Central Bank bonds. It was the Leader of our party Comrade Anura Dissanayaka who held a press conference and exposed this scam to the country first. We proposed to remove Arjun Mahendran, the Governor of Central Bank and hold an inquiry about the scam. However, the government did not take any action. Meanwhile the JVP gets the chairmanship of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE). COPE takes over the investigations. It was not handed over by anyone. The government did not give the needed assistance for the investigation. Meanwhile, there was an attempt to threaten officials regarding an exposure of a secret report from the Central Bank. However, COPE investigations continued without any hitch. Later, when the report was being compiled UNP Parliamentarians in COPE were deployed to weaken the report. On one instance Comrade Sunil Handunneththi walked away from a meeting under these circumstances. The viewpoint created by this incident was disadvantageous to the UNP. Then the UNP changed its strategy. They attempted to include words that give a political twist to recommendations in the report, include recommendations that went beyond the purview of COPE to get the report rejected in Courts. However, they failed in all their attempts. As a result they are furious and are making a din in the society.
The Prime Minister is massively responsible for the scam. It was he who took over the Central Bank which all this time was under the Ministry of Finance. He appointed Singapore citizen and his good friend Arjun Mahendran as the Governor of the Central Bank. As soon as Mahendran was appointed governor he got involved in the bond scam on 27th February. This created uproar in the society.
If the Prime Minister was clean he could have removed the governor and held an inquiry. However, he did not carry out any such action. He went on to protect the governor. He attempted to reappoint Arjun Mahendran when his term came to an end. However, due to the public opinion the attempt to reappoint him failed.
When COPE inquiry was continuing Parliamentarian Velukumar, who was a UNP member of COPE, was removed and Sujeewa Senasinghe was appointed. He and other UNP members in COPE were instructed to carry out an exercise to manipulate the report according to the need of the UNP. However, all these attempts were defeated and a strong COPE report has been presented to the country. In such a situation the government must take measures to immediately implement recommendations in the COPE report. The JVP proposes the following for such an exercise.
- Based on the COPE report take immediate ,measures to take legal action against all those who are involved in the scam, mete out severe punishment for those who are found guilty and recover all the money defrauded from the state
- Remove former Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka Arjun Mahendran, who has been accused of involvement in the bond scam by COPE report, from all positions he occupies in the government and the economy and not appoint him hereafter for any position in the government.
- As there is a possibility that Perpetual Treasuries Ltd. that has gained a massive profit through the bond scam could take assets it has gained by illegal means away from the country, immediate legal measures should be taken to stop assets and funds owned by the company and all other companies affiliated to Perpetual Treasuries Ltd. from being taken away.
- As COPE report has revealed that Perpetual Treasuries Ltd. is involved in the bond scam, it should be immediately withdrawn from the list of primary dealers of the Central Bank.
- The officials of the Central Bank, who neglected their professional responsibilities to assist in the illegal transaction, could interfere in the investigations being carried out on the bond scam. As such they should be removed from relevant responsibilities.
- Also, taking into consideration the COPE report presented on 9th August, 2015, a comprehensive investigation regarding frauds and irregularities that have been committed in the issue of bonds and various other financial transactions carried out throughout the past by the Central Bank should be carried out.
What the government should do now is not to shout on the streets regarding the bond incident but to take legal action. Also, these immediate proposals should be implemented. We have no trust in the conduct of this government. As such, a public opinion should be built up and pressurize the government to take action. We call upon the people in this country to rally with us.
