By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

October 5, 2016, 12:00 pm

Alleging that a confidential investigation report in respect of operations undertaken by the Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) pertaining to Central Bank bond scams in 2015 had been held up by an interested party, National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa, MP, yesterday urged the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka to take up follow-up action without further delay.

Weerawansa said that the ‘on-site examination’ had been carried out by the Public Debt Department with a view to apprising the Monetary Board of Sri Lanka comprising Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy (Chairman), Treasury Secretary Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga, Mrs M. Ramanathan, C.P.R. Perera and Nihan Fonseka.

The NFF leader vowed to pressure the government, both in and outside parliament over the delay in taking up the report finalised in Sept. 2016. Having examined various transactions, the investigators had made a series of recommendations, including a mandatory corporate governance code for Primary Dealers (PD). They had also recommended tough penalties among other measures, he said.

Bidding at off-market rates invariably caused escalation of government borrowings, the MP pointed out.

Weerawansa was addressing the media on behalf of the Joint Opposition (JO) at Dr. N.M. Perera Centre, Cotta Road, Borella. Former External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris and LSSP Leader Prof. Tissa Vitharana flanked him.

The former JVPer said that the bond trader PTL had recorded a phenomenal post-tax profit of over Rs. 6 billion as at May 31, 2016 and was in the process of making unprecedented earnings at the expense of the national economy.

Demanding a thorough inquiry into the alleged bond scams, MP Weerawansa accused ‘Rathu Ali’ of turning a blind eye to what was going on.

Prof. Peiris pointed out that Perpetual Treasuries Limited had done even batter than the banking sector.

MP Weerawansa expressed grave doubts as regards the investigation undertaken by the parliamentary watchdog the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) into the alleged bond scams.

The NFF leader distributed copies of the confidential report among the media at the briefing.

Referring to a spate of investigations directed at those who had been opposed to the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, MP Weerawansa alleged the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID), Criminal Investigations Department (CID) as well as the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) had conveniently looked the other way, thereby denying a proper investigation into the alleged bond scams. Weerawansa pointed out that MP Mahinda Amaraweera, who had lodged the first complaint at the CIABOC regarding the alleged bond scams at the onset of the 100-day government today functioned as the General Secretary of the UPFA.

A senior spokesperson for the CIABOC told The Island that the alleged bond scams had been under investigation and there was absolutely no basis of MP Weerawansa’s allegations.

A smiling Weerawansa said that movies wouldn’t be made about Central Bank saga though a movie depicted infamous Rs 400,000 robbery. In an obvious reference to Director General of CIABOC Mrs Dilrukshi Wickremasinghe, MP Weerawansa alleged that she was only interested in them.

Quoting the report, Weerawansa said that the PTL had registered an unusually high growth rate during 2015/16. The Net Profit Before Tax (NPBT) had accounted for 83 per cent of standalone Primary Dealer’s NPBT as at Dec 31, 2915 and capital base grew by 375 per cent from Dec 31, 2914 to Dec 31, 2915, to a staggering Rs 11 bn, MP Weerawansa said.

The NFF leader pointed out that the Central Bank report had dealt with several critically important issues including excessive bidding at various auctions in spite of not having sufficient funding sources, controversial practice of bidding off-market rates, transactions at off-market rates with Employees Provident Fund (EPF), questionable banking sector transactions, extraordinary capital gains amounting to Rs 4,652.7 mn in April and May 2016 through trading treasury bonds etc.

Acknowledging investigations undertaken by the COPE as well as the Auditor General, the report had recommended to the Monetary Board setting up of an independent internal committee to pursue investigations into seven specific issues relating to PTL transactions. These included the utilization of Central Bank of Sri Lanka liquidity assistance vis a vis treasury bond acquisitions in the primary auctions and where there had been case of misuse of the available facilities.

The report also made a series of recommendations to the Bank Supervision Department and the ETF as well as issued directives to the Board of Directors of the PTL.