Forensic audit reports on CB bond investigation before COPE

Monday, 2 December 2019 01:39 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Decision on submitting to Parliament will be taken by Committee at next meet
AG had advised not to disclose contests of reports as they could be evidence in ongoing or future legal action

The Forensic Audit Reports in relation to the Central Bank Treasury Bond investigation will be submitted to the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) when its next meets, its Chairman JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti said yesterday.

He said the Committee had received the copies of the reports last week and it would meet to decide on submitting them to Parliament. “I will first table the reports before the Committee and then decide on how to proceed from there,” Handunnetti told the Daily FT.

The Central Bank said last month that the Attorney General had advised the Monetary Authority to limit access to the five forensic audits conducted by them only to relevant officials as they may contain information that could be used as evidence in ongoing investigations and future legal action.

The Monetary Board of the CBSL, in consultation with the Auditor General, commissioned the Forensic Audits (FAs) which were carried out entirely by personnel based outside Sri Lanka, of audit firms with a global practice and international experience who were selected by a Cabinet Appointed Consultants Procurement Committee (CACPC) in compliance with applicable Government procurement guidelines. The Auditor General’s representative was an observer on the CACPC.

After the forensic audits were complete, the Monetary Board sought the opinion of the Attorney General about the distribution of the FA reports including, specifically, as to whether the reports should be made public.

The Attorney General had opined that the findings in the reports, annexes and exhibits should be treated as having the potential to be evidence in investigations and ongoing and future legal actions and access should be limited to those who have statutory authority to access them while emphasising that the recipients maintain confidentiality in respect of the contents of the reports in order to avoid any possible prejudicial effect on investigations and ongoing and future litigation.