by Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy  The Island

The Joint Opposition (JO) yesterday said that President Maithripala Sirisena owed an explanation to the country as regards the missing section of justice K.T. Chitrasiri’s treasury bond report handed over to him on Dec 30, 2017.

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila, MP, told the media at Nelum Pokuna that the report released by the Presidential Secretariat on Wednesday (Jan.17) comprised 1,154 pages though President Sirisena, in his January 3 address to the nation said the report contained 1,257 pages.Referring to MP Ravi Karunanayake’s recent statement regarding the credibility of the report, Gammanpila asked whether the section of the report that had been rejected by Karunanayake was removed, hence the reduction of the report.

Gammanpila urged President Sirisena to restore confidence in the public over the ongoing process by explaining the missing pages.

Gammanpila also strongly disputed UNP General Secretary and Public Enterprise Development Minister Kabir Hashim’s assertion that the report had cleared Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe. Gammanpila pointed out on the basis of Premier Wickremesinghe’s submissions to the bond commission, the report asserted that there had been general consensus among members of the government Arjuna Mahendran should be appointed Governor, CBSL. Gammanpila asked how Wickremesinghe could have come to the conclusion that there was consensus as regards Mahendran’s appointment when President Maithripala Sirisena and the likes of Dr. Rajitha Senaratne publicly decried the move.

Gammanpila said Wickremesinghe also claimed before the commission that there was no legal impediment for Mahendran to accept the post though being a foreigner. The JO spokesperson said that the problem was Mahendran being a Singaporean as that country expressly prohibited Singaporeans from taking citizenship of another country.

Gammanpila said that the presidential commission of inquiry had suffered gravely due to Dappula de Livera-led Attorney General’s Department team being prevented from questioning Premier Wickremesinghe. The JO member alleged that Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya had failed to properly question Premier Wickremesinghe thereby jeopardised the probe.

Gammanpila said that the Attorney General should have sought explanation from Premier Wickremesinghe to the following question (1) Explain why CBSL was brought under Wickremesinghe purview (2) Why a foreigner unable to pledge his loyalty was named Governor, CBSL (3) How could one claim that there was general consensus among government members regarding Mahendran’s appointment when President Sirisena and Rajitha Senaratne opposed the move (4) wouldn’t it be Wickremesinghe’s duty to accept responsibility for Mahendran’s actions in keeping with his pledge (5) explain the basis on which Mahendran was instructed to do away with time-tested and fool-proof auction cum direct placement system and most importantly whether Wickremesinghe requested President Sirisena to dissolve parliament in mid 2015 to prevent the then COPE Chairman Dew Gunasekera from presenting report on first bond scam.

Gammanpila said the report had contradicted Wickremesinghe’s claim that Mahendran didn’t interfere in bond auction. The Joint Opposition MP said that Wickremesinghe’s statement in parliament on March 17, 2015 cleared Mahendran of interference whereas the bond report blamed the Singaporean