A chance for action?

Monday, 30 November 2015 00:00 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Parliament has been given the best resources to hold top officials responsible for corruption - if they wish to.

The Auditor General (AG) in his Annual Report for last year has noted several serious financial irregularities and lapses in the State-owned banking institutions including the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). It has also focused on serious financial mismanagement in several State institutions including the Bureau of Foreign Employment to the tune of Rs. 113 million along with more in the national transport commission, football federation, tourism promotion bureau and even the prison’s department.

Among these was the CBSL’s purchase of property in Brazil for Rs. 122.81 million in 2014, for its future operations. However, the CBSL had not obtained prior Cabinet approval to purchase this property, and the future plan for its utilisation had not been decided up to the end of the last year. 

Subsequently, this property had been rented out to the Foreign Affairs Ministry for a period of two years from 1 February 2015, with the Sri Lanka Embassy in Brazil housed in this premises since that date.

The CBSL had also acquired a building in New York for $ 6,207,116 (Rs. 607,121,953) on 24 August 2011, and rented it out to the Foreign Affairs Ministry for three years from 1 June 2012, at a monthly rental of $ 68,000, without being utilised for the intended purposes.

The AG noted in his report that, according to Section 117 of the Monetary Law Act, “The CBSL should not engage in trade or otherwise have a direct interest in any commercial, industrial or other undertaking, except such interest as it may in any way acquire in the course of the satisfaction of any of its claims.”

In addition, the CBSL had paid Rs. 1,396.22 million during the year under review, on behalf of the Government, to three Foreign Service providers for consultancy services, on a reimbursable basis from the Treasury. The said amount had been treated as CBSL expenditure in 2014, without claiming it from the General Treasury. 

Furthermore, it represented 68% of the total consultancy advisory professional service expenses amounting to Rs. 2,050.62 million incurred during the year under review.

The CBSL had also entered into an agreement with a foreign company to establish an International Financial Centre in Sri Lanka. According to the agreement, the first installment of $ 250,000 had been paid in October 2014. Thereafter, the CBSL decided to suspend the company’s services, without recovering the above amount.

The AG also referred to the opening of the Bank of Ceylon Seychelles Branch, and noted that deposits of three major customers amounted to 62% of the total deposits and 10 major deposits of customers amounted to 77% of the total deposits of the Branch as at 30 April 2015.

These scams and mismanagement barely scratch the surface but they give a chance for the National Government to make a start - if it wants to.

 

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