Speaker to inquire if Presidential Secretariat withheld volumes of bond report

By Skandha Gunasekara

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya will be inquiring of the Presidential Secretariat whether all volumes of the bond report were handed over to Parliament or if some were withheld. 

Joint Opposition Group Leader in Parliament MP Dinesh Gunawardana told Daily FT that at yesterday’s Party leaders’ meeting, the Opposition had demanded that the Speaker ascertain whether the complete bond report had been presented to Parliament. 

“There has been a lot of controversy over the bond report that was presented to Parliament. Several organisations such as the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections have claimed that only one volume of the report was presented while the remaining volumes were withheld. Therefore we requested that the Speaker to inquire from the Presidential Secretariat about the issue,” Gunawardana said.  Furthermore, Gunawardana said that another Party leaders’ meeting had been scheduled for 2:30 p.m. today to decide the date and time at which Parliament would debate the bond report. 

In addition, the Joint Opposition will have a meeting this morning at 11.30 a.m. to discuss whether to move a motion against the Government in Parliament.  The bond report was handed over to Parliament on 17 January while a soft copy of the report was uploaded online for the scrutiny of the general public. Subsequently, various civil groups alleged that key sections of the report were missing. Parliament is expected to table the bond report in the House today so that it can be taken up for debate by the country’s lawmakers.