Bond and PRECIFAC reports debate postponed indefinitely

• Unavailability of Tamil and English translation of PRECIFAC reports causes House to postpone special debate 

 By Skandha Gunasekara

The continuation of the crucial debate on the bond report and the PRECIFAC report was postponed yesterday due to the PRECIFAC report being unavailable in Tamil and English, bringing parliamentary sittings to an abrupt end yesterday.   

TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran in Parliament yesterday notified the House that TNA MPs would be unable to take part in the debate on the PRECIFAC reports as the English and Tamil versions of the report were not available.

Yesterday’s adjournment debate was the continuation of the special debate on the Presidential Commission’s report on the Central Bank bond scam and the reports of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resource and Privileges (PRECIFAC), which took place in Parliament on 6 February and was duly suspended until the conclusion of the Local Government Election on 10 February.

However, while MP Sumanthiran was elaborating on the language problem faced by the House, a heated argument ensued when Joint Opposition MP Vasudeva Nanayakkkara suggested that the TNA speak on the bond report, which was available in English, until English and Tamil translations of the PRECIFAC report were made available.

MP Sumanthiran stated: “Why are you insisting that we speak only on the bond report? Why are you worried about the PRECIFAC report? I want to speak on those as well. You are worried about us making references to the PRECIFAC report. You were the Minister of National Languages in the previous Government. You should have been protesting in agreement with my argument that before a debate begins reports must be available in both the national languages.”

“You are speaking unnecessarily. My point is that we have come ready to speak and the debate must go on,” Nananakkara retorted.

MP Sumanthiran replied: “I am not speaking unnecessarily. I cannot even understand if somebody refers to something in the PRECIFAC report. I cannot follow it. Is that the way you want me to participate in a debate? Having been the Minister of National Languages, and having gone around the world making various claims, are you suggesting that I participate in a debate where things are referred to in a language that I cannot read? Shameful!”

Defusing the situation, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya intervened, apologising for not having the Tamil and English translations of the reports ready.

“There are about 8,000 pages in that report. We have asked the relevant officials to prepare the translations and the Official Languages Department is working on it. There is a point in what MP Sumanthiran is saying, but I leave it to the House to decide on whether to continue with the debate or not,” the Speaker said.

He then referred the matter to the Leader of the House, Lakshman Kiriella, seeking his opinion.

In response Minister Kiriella proposed that the debate be postponed as it was both impractical and legally flawed to conduct a debate on a report without it being made available to the House in both national languages.

Nevertheless, Joint Opposition Parliamentary group leader MP Dinesh Gunawardena pointed out that it had initially been agreed that the debate would continue without the Sinhala and Tamil translations as long as the reports were available in the English language.

The Speaker then explained that the PRECIFAC reports were only available in Sinhala and that even the English translation was not yet ready.

Subsequently, the House gave its consent and the Speaker postponed the debate on the bond and PRECIFAC reports indefinitely and adjourned parliament sessions till 1.00 p.m. today, resulting in parliamentary sittings being limited to just 40 minutes.