Finance Minister, P M & Prez mum regarding bond scam
“It was announced that Bonds worth Rs 40, 000 would be issued but Treasury Bonds worth Rs 80, 000 million have been issued. 80,000 instead of 40,000 is to renew the usual fraud. It is the company owned by Central Bank Governor’s son-in-law that exchanged bonds issued by the Central Bank last year. The Governor remaining in the post itself is a misdeed. However, the Minister of Finance, the Prime Minister and the President are mum regarding this. The biggest harm due to such misdeed is for the working masses, says the Convener of Voice against Corruption (VAC) and Member of the North Central Provincial Council Wasantha Samarasinghe. He said this at a press conference held at the head office of the JVP at Pelawatta yesterday (24th).
Speaking further Mr. Samarasinghe said, “Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s pal who was appointed as the Governor of the Central Bank immediately after the government came to power was accused of a massive fraud when issuing bonds. Announcements were to issue bonds to the value of Rs.1000 million but bonds valued at Rs.10,000 million was bought through son-in-law’s company. Even the President made a request to remove the Governor after this incident. However, Ranil Wickremesinghe and his party did not carry out the request. Another such a massive deal was carried out by the Governor of the Central Bank recently. Bonds were issued weekly paying money for bonds that had expired. At the end of February too an auction that runs on parallel lines of the controversial auction I mentioned earlier took place. It was announced that Bonds worth Rs 40, 000 would be issued but Treasury Bonds worth Rs 80, 000 million have been issued. 80,000 instead of 40,000 is to renew the usual fraud. It is the company owned by Central Bank Governor’s son-in-law that exchanged bonds issued by the Central Bank last year. The Governor remaining in the post itself is a misdeed. However, the Minister of Finance, the Prime Minister and the President are mum regarding this. The biggest harm due to such misdeed is for the working masses. Rs.1,300 billion from EPF is mainly invested in treasury bills and government bonds. If EPF directly does the trading it could get a profit of Rs.80 million. EPF doesn’t get this large amount of money due to trading with primary dealers. When compared with the massive sum of Rs.1300 billion this is a small amount but for the working masses of the country this is a large amount and a massive plunder of people’s money. We have taken this matter before the Supreme Court. The Treasury and the Governor of the Central Bank are engaged in this fraud very skilfully. We informed the previous government to stop plundering the EPF. We will complaint to the Bribery Commission and the Anti-Corruption Committee Secretariat regarding the bond scam carried out by the Central Bank.
The government through the Governor of the Central Bank and his son-in-law is knowingly and blatantly plundering money from the EPF. The Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister are aware of this. We would intervene to stop this fraud. Also, we ask the working masses to rally to demand investigating the fraud and to come forward to stop such acts. We emphasize that a struggle should be carried out by the working masses not only to protect their rights and win others but also to stop plundering their resources.”
