Ranil and UNP Forfeit ‘Corruption’ Issue over Bond Fraud
Posted on April 20th, 2015
Metteyya Brahmana
One of the main reasons Maithripala was able to secure enough majority Buddhist votes to defeat Mahinda in January’s election is by promising to clean up the corruption. Securing three quarters of Tamil and Muslim votes along with UNP votes would have still left Maithripala well short of 50%of the vote to win, so the corruption issue was critical to his very slim 51% victory.
Now we discover that Ranil is no better than Mahinda on corruption, and may actually be worse if you look at his actions in covering up the bond fraud by the Central Bank governor that he appointed. Ranil appointed a team of well-known UNP loyalist lawyers to investigate the bond fraud, and not one of them has experience in securities issues or securities fraud. It is therefore not a surprise that Ranil’s panel cleared the Central Bank governor of wrongdoing, but their assertion that he had no ‘direct’ role in the bidding process demonstrates that they were not even investigating the right issue.
The bond fraud issue concerned changing the indicated interest rate that would be accepted from 9.5% to 12.5% at the last minute based on a directive of the Central Bank governor after all of securities dealers had placed their bids. The only dealer at the high 12.5% end of the accepted range was Perpetual Treasuries, which is a family firm run by the Central Bank governor’s son-in-law’s family. Obviously, the government would prefer bids with higher interest as they get more money, so Perpetual Treasuries bid was accepted while the lower interest bids of other securities dealers were disfavored. How could Perpetual Treasuries be the ‘only’ securities dealer to know that the interest rate accepted range would be changed to 12.5%? This is the question Ranil’s three-person panel should have been investigating, as it indicates that Perpetual Treasuries received ‘insider information’ from its family connection to the Central Bank governor, but instead they focused on whether the Central Bank governor had a ‘direct’ role in accepting the bids. Because the Central Bank governor is never directly involved in accepting any bids in a bond issue, this allowed the panel to clear the Central Bank governor of wrongdoing.
What a farce!
Why didn’t Ranil call in the US Justice Department and the World Bank to investigate this complex financial fraud like he is doing to investigate allegations of fraud against members of the Rajapaksa government? In justifying his actions in calling for foreign law enforcement assistance against the Rajapkasa regime, he claimed Sri Lanka did not have the expertise to investigate complex financial fraud, so what changed this time when his Central Bank governor is facing allegations of complex financial fraud? It is obvious that Ranil speaks out of both sides of his mouth, and really is not interested in rooting out corruption at all, especially when a UNP person is involved.
The bad news for Ranil is that this is not going to go down very well with the Sri Lankan voter in June, especially the non-UNP Buddhist voters that he pulled away from Rajapaksa in the January election. Given the super slim 51% vote margin in January, the UNP is playing party politics with the corruption issue” virtually assures UNP rejection in the upcoming polls. Maybe the SLFP will not be perceived as any better on the issue, but it opens the door for the revival of the PA (People’s Alliance) that Mahinda is considering in contesting for Prime Minister, and puts the non-UNP Buddhist votes for Maithripala back in play for Mahinda’s taking. Serious efforts to root out corruption can never be a partisan issue; all persons regardless of their party affiliation must be held accountable, including those in the UNP.
April 20th, 2015 at 6:20 pm
Namaste: Sirisena got Sinhala votes only by Indian Imperialists divisive actions. Ganayas like Rathanaya, Sobithya, Gnasaraya are the best example of such divisive men in yellow robes. We have been lead to believe Sinhala is only Sinhala Buddhists. This is wrong, the truth is Muslims and Christians are Sinhala except the Indian Muslims and Christians. Jai Hind
April 20th, 2015 at 6:22 pm
Namaste; Indian colonial Parasite’s Financial Fraud is a criminal act that should have been dealt by police and the Courts. It is not a bribe or a corrupt act. Jai Hind
April 20th, 2015 at 6:53 pm
In addition to Runil’s additional corruptions, MR’s work continues.
Yahapalanaya News From Japan
As promised at the elections, ex-Navy commander was removed from the high commissioner post.
However, Nimal Siripala’s mistresses daughter continue to enjoy diplomatic work at mission there. She doesn’t speak Japanese nor English and has been a joke there as local question the purpose of her being there with no qualifications.
When are we going to vote out all the fat politicians over 65 year of age, done enough harm to country, earned enough wealth and can go with grace plus pension. That is OK. Let a new young person do something.
April 20th, 2015 at 7:56 pm
I think the point of the article is Maithripala would have come up well short of 50% of the vote with just 3/4ths of minority vote plus UNP voters. These non-UNP, non-Minority votes were swayed by the corruption issue, and typically do not vote for the UNP. Now that Ranil has ‘politicized’ the corruption issue by only going after non-UNP people, he removes this issue for the UNP as an election tool in the upcoming elections.
No one is going to believe that the UNP is exempt from corruption after learning the details of the Central Bank governor insider information bond fraud.
April 20th, 2015 at 10:21 pm
Namaste: Dividing the non-Indians to as many groups as possible; that is the Indian Imperialists’ agenda. Jai Hind
April 21st, 2015 at 12:04 am
Piyadasa Wijedasa and his deal with Avantguard, Tie and coat elephant and his bond issue, three fold salaray increase by Matara Taylor to Sirisena’s Telecom brother, Ranil’s deal with MR on the 8th night coup, Ranil’s appointment of a non-resident to overnight issuing dual citizenship withe CB Governor’s post are turning my stomach, foreign exchange cheat appointed as the finance minister is grossly misconduct of Ranil. All these are making the known devil is better than the unknown.CBK woman plying a leading role is an added disadvantage to Ranil and Sirisena. Election comes the people are waiting to bring MR back into power.
April 21st, 2015 at 1:21 am
Metteyya,
“.. These non-UNP, non-Minority votes were swayed by the corruption issue, and typically do not vote for the UNP.”
– true. These are the people who do not “love” any politician but look for quality. These may be considered as protest votes too.
April 21st, 2015 at 1:23 am
Stanley,
All one needs is a one good prosecution. But yet to come or never to come.
April 21st, 2015 at 8:54 am
>>>Independent Says:
April 21st, 2015 at 1:21 am<<<
The problem for Ranil is now the protest vote is turning against Ranil and the UNP because of the selective and partisan way they are pursuing corruption and the stoppage of all of the Chinese funded economic development. These voters are also turning against the SLFP weaklings who have enabled Ranil by joining the government in exchange for minor and deputy ministerships rather than becoming part of a VERY strong opposition.
If the the revival of the PA under Mahinda can garner a majority in Parliament, the UNP and SLFP will become irrelevant and Maithripala reduced to a ceremonial role as president.
April 22nd, 2015 at 5:07 am
Vimutti,
True, some hanging votes will surely turn against Ranil. But they need another credible alternative.
The current parliament has almost ended. Who will get the UFPA ticket is the question.
If MR camp is able to scare off My3 – get ANimal Siri Pala to retire. then there is a very good chance of removing Runil. MR should not contest but he can come as a nominated MP later to the seen. That way huge amount of more votes can be won.