By
Disna Mudalige

A stormy session ensued at yesterday’s COPE meeting over its final report on the Central Bank (CB) Treasury Bonds investigation.

During a special meeting attended by 14 out of the 26 members of the COPE, the report was endorsed by eight members, while five UNP MPs declined to accept it.

The UNP MPs have stated that they would present a separate report to the House.

The COPE presided by its Chairman JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti met at 9.30 a.m. at the Parliamentary Complex to finalise the report, which is expected to be tabled in the House next Tuesday.

The report approved yesterday by eight members has recommended among other things to hold a separate investigation over Perpetual Treasuries Limited recording a massive profit during the period in question. It further stated that if the company’s profit making had resulted in any loss to the Central Bank or the Government, then it should be recovered from it.

It has stated that the claims that there had been irregularities and malpractices in Treasury Bonds sales during the period from February 2015 to May 2016 have been proven beyond reasonable doubt. It further states that this incident resulted in breach of faith on Central Bank among the public and the international community.

The report recommends that those responsible on this incident should be punished and the loss incurred should be charged back from them. It further recommends that Parliament should either appoint a Committee or make some other mechanism to monitor whether the recommendations of the report are met and the progress should be informed to Parliament.

The report also recommends that a proper mechanism should be in place to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents at any time in the future.

The eight members who endorsed the report yesterday were UPFA MPs Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Lakshman Seneviratne, Chandrasiri Gajadheera, Priyankara Jayaratne, Lasantha Alagiyawanne, Weerakumara Dissanayake, and JVP MPs Bimal Ratnayake and Dr Nalinda Jayatissa.

The five UNP MPs who did not endorse it were Dr Harsha de Silva, Ajith P. Perera, Sujeewa Serasinghe, Hector Appuhamy and Harshana Rajakaruna. The UNP MPs along with the COPE Chairman, the Auditor General and COPE Secretary remained until late yesterday to discuss their move to present an alternative report.

Courtesy:Daily News