By Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island

UPFA MP Dayasiri Jayasekara yesterday admitted in Parliament that he received one million rupee Cheque from Walt & Row Associates.

Making a statement in Parliament he said that there had been a newspaper report to the effect that he had obtained the cash cheque from Walt & Row associated with Perpetual Treasuries.

He said he did nothing wrong in accepting the funds which he had used for his electioneering to seek a Parliament seat. Jayasekara said that he was the Chief Minister of Wayamba Province when the sponsor money was given to him.

“Not only those who are in Parliament, or provincial councillors, but the trader in the village helps the Pradeshiya Sabha member. “That is how the country’s politics work. Therefore, some of the businessmen do help us, they have done so even at the Provincial Council elections, General Elections and the Presidential Elections as well. It is traditional that the business community helps politicians at every election,” Jayasekara said.

He however noted that he was not a COPE Committee member at the time and was appointed to parliament only on August 17, 2015.

He said that the news report stated that based on a statement given to the CID by a police officer who was attached to Jayasekara’s security in 2015, on June 13, 2015 Jayasekara had asked his security officer, Amila Kumara Herath, to encash a cash cheque (Bearing number 566635) which was issued by Walt & Row Associates (under the current account number 0073900773). The said security officer had told the CID that he had encashed the cheque from a Kurunegala Bank and handed the Money ‘in cash’ to Jayasekara.

Jayasekara said that at every instance he had stood up against Arjun Mahendran’s illegal acts both at the COPE Committee and the parliament. “Hence, what is important is who we represented and in this instance, this cheque is not one that was written in my name. I inquired about this but have no recollection of who gave it and who encashed it. I am truly unaware if Arjun Aloysius had signed this cheque or who had signed it. But we had encashed this cheque and utilised that money for our election campaign,” Jayasekara admitted in parliament yesterday joining the parliamentary debate over several orders under the Appropriation Act.

He said there were many who had taken money from Arjun Aloysius and he could reveal those names and urged authorities to take measures to reveal the identities of those who had accepted money from Arjun Aloysius and table in parliament the balance 3000 page report on the Bond scam.

He said that he had never worked to safeguard Arjun Aloysius and clear him from the allegations the latter faced.

This is a smear campaign that has been unleashed against him after he and 15 others had opted to step out of the government, he said

“We have not taken money from Arjun Aloysius and tried to protect him. I never wrote books on the Bond scam and never went to court on behalf of Arjun Aloysius and neither represented him nor tried to stop the investigation,” he added.