• Monetary Board to send completed audits to Attorney General for further action

The Central Bank expects to complete five out of the six forensic audits it has undertaken into bond sales, following recommendations made by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI), by next month.

Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy told reporters on Friday (11 October) that the bulk of the forensic audits will be completed by the end of November and were likely to be forwarded to the Attorney General (AG) for future action.

“All forensic audits are to be completed by end November. Altogether, there are six. One was expanded by court and we haven’t done the procurement for it, but the other five will be completed. The audits cover both bond issuances and EPF transactions because PCoI, in its recommendations, stated that both should be investigated,” Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy said.

“Once they are done, the Monetary Board will consider them, and it will seek the advice of the Attorney General as to what the next step should be. Whether it will be published or not will depend on the advice of the Attorney General.”

Dr. Coomaraswamy also explained that the PCoI appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to investigate the controversial bond transaction had recommended forensic audits but had not mentioned a date from which to start.

However, the Monetary Board has decided that if they were to pick a date, then it was possible for later questions on transactions that had taken place before the cut-off date.

“The Monetary Board thought that if a date was set, then someone can say the earlier ones should also be looked at. If we were to start a fresh inquiry, then it would be much more costly to do everything all over again. Therefore, we decided to look at it from the start. Hopefully by November, five of the six should be completed.”

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