No plans to take any action against CB Governor: Lakshman Kiriella

July 02, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor, Arjuna Mahendran would not be removed from his post since the allegations are false, former leader of the house Lakshman Kiriella told reporters Thursday.

“We are not planning to take any action against him,” Kiriella said.

“There were three draft reports on this bond issue, But none of the reports proved that Arjun Mahendran is wrong, That is the truth,”

“The reports were not presented to the parliament because nothing has been proven, The COPE report didn’t present because there is nothing wrong.”

In April, Economic Affairs Ministry issuing a statement said that the committee appointed by Prime Minister to probe the controversial 30 year bond has found that Central Bank governor Arjuna Mahendran had no direct participation in the incident.

“The Committee concluded that there was no evidence to the effect that the governor had direct participation with regard to the activities of the Public Debt Department and the Tender Board Committee.” the statement said.

The statement further said that the Committee has noted serious lapses on the part of the Bank of Ceylon through whom Perpetual Treasuries had routed an unusually large amount of bids for the 30 year bond.

“The Committee observed that the bidding pattern of Perpetual Treasuries was unusual and warranted a further investigation.” the statement further said.

Then a Committee on Public Enterprise (COPE) appointed a sub committee comprising 13 Government and Opposition legislators on May 22, this year to look into the controversial Central Bank Bond issue, following the Speaker’s ruling on a motion submitted by UPFA Parliamentarians seeking the dismissal of Central Bank Governor.

In the motion, the Opposition Parliamentarians have alleged that the three-member committee appointed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to look into the matter was not independent.

“If the Cope chairman has found any guilt on the governor, he has all the rights to stand up and speak in the Parliament,” Kiriella said.