• “I have done my duty,” PM tells Parliament

• Advice on bond issue was sought from IMF and World Bank

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday informed Parliament that he will decide the course of action to be taken on the controversial Treasury bond issue after the Attorney General Department gives instructions on the matter, stressing that he has done his duty. 

The Prime Minister invited the Opposition to handover the file to any legal expert they select, provided all party leaders agree, if they are not happy with the instructions from the AG. 

“I did my best as the Prime Minister and the minister responsible. Now it is up to the House to decide any alternative,” he said,

speaking during the Budget 2017 third reading debate.

Wickremesighe, responding to MP Wasudewa Nanayakkara’s accusation that the Prime Minister was influencing the process, highlighted that for the first time, action on a COPE report was taken within a year. 

 “How many times have we been demanding investigations on Hedging and Greek Bonds issues. Nothing had been done. We appointed the Pitipana Committee to investigate the Treasury bond issue. When the report came D. E. W. Gunasekera said it was a UNP committee and that the report was not acceptable. Then COPE headed by MP Sunil Handunnetti investigated it and issued a report. Everybody accepts that report. I am thankful to MP Handunnetti. The committee report came up with recommendations. I acted in accordance with those recommendations. Then the House had been told to hand over these recommendations to a legal body.”

The Premier stressed that the State takes legal advice from Attorney General on all matters relating to governance, except with regard to matters pertaining to privilege issues. The Attorney General has instructed the Government to obtain expert knowledge on public auction and private placement methods, he said. 

“I wrote to the IMF and the World Bank. There is no point asking others for instructions. My duty was to hand over the issue to this House. The COPE is a committee of this House. You cannot file a case without amending laws if the Attorney General permits it. You could file a case but that would yield no results. If you do not like that procedure, you could obtain the services of a legal expert of your choice.”

Highlighting that there are 37 COPE reports, which came before the report on the alleged bond scam, Wickremesinghe said that his Government would take action on these reports as well. 

“There should be no further delay. Otherwise I would be accused of delaying them,” he said.

Earlier in the debate, MP Wasudewa Nanayakkara accused Prime Minister Wickremesinghe of delaying the Bond sales investigations. He claimed that investigations will not continue as long as the Prime Minister held his position. Nanayakkara also said that the AG’s department (which has been tasked with advising the State on possible legal action on the report), also works on the Prime Minister’s advice, and called for his resignation.

Dilan battles for presidential commission on bond scam

• SLFP front-liner makes appeal during lengthy speech in P’ment, seeks to unify SLFP on bond scam Insists properly 

• empowered presidential commission best chance of justice 

• Says different sides engaged in “whitewashing” uncle or son-in-law but unfocused on solutions   

State Minister of Highways Dilan Perera yesterday called on opposition parliamentarians to make a collective push to appoint an empowered presidential commission to comprehensively investigate and take legal action on the alleged bond scam. 

Speaking at length in parliament, Perera sought to find middle ground on the acrimonious issue and, for the first time inside the House, openly advocated a presidential commission as the best avenue to push for a comprehensive investigation. 

Reaching out to his detractors in the Joint Opposition, Perera appealed to them to support Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) efforts to encourage President Maithripala Sirisena to appoint a presidential commission following charges that the move to send the Committee on Public Enterprises (CoPE) report to the Attorney General was a delaying tactic. 

“I have to speak the truth here. There is one faction whitewashing the uncle and one faction whitewashing the son-in-law. I’m asking Joint Opposition members to stop whitewashing the son-in-law and come to a common agreement with us. What are you trying to hide? We have all bumped into the son-in-law enough times at Temple Trees,” he told his fellow members.

Perera is also one of the 11-member committee appointed by President Sirisena to study the CoPE report submitted to parliament last month to recommend future steps to Sirisena. In his extensive speech, Perera also dwelt on a previous request by the Joint Opposition to appoint a special presidential commission, which was rejected by the State Minister on the basis that it would not have judicial powers. 

“A special presidential commission would only collect facts. It would not be empowered to push for a legal result and that is what must be done. Whatever step is taken, it must mean something. This is why I say our best approach would be to appoint a presidential commission empowered in the right way to be powerful enough to deal with the extremely powerful people who are involved in this situation,” Perera went onto say ,without specifically mentioning names. 

The alleged bond scam and the CoPE report came up during several speeches delivered by JVP and Joint Opposition parliamentarians on Monday as the Budget debates continued into a new week. The debates kicked off with Parliament taking up the expenses for several ministries including Defence, Justice, Southern Development and Law and Order ministries.