Dayasiri defiant

Thursday, 23 November 2017 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Chathuri Dissanayake

Revealing that Arjun Aloysius sought his support to clear his name, Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara insisted that the interactions had no bearing on his contribution to the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) inquiry on the Central Bank bond issuance.

“He met me and asked for my support, but I refused, explaining to him that the inquiry by COPE was likely to find him and Arjuna Mahendran guilty,” Cabinet Co-Spokesperson and Sports Minister Jayasekara told the weekly Cabinet press briefing.

Jayasekara’s name was among the five COPE members who had spoken over the phone to Aloysius, the former Director of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd.

The list was revealed last week during the proceedings of the Presidential Commission on the Central Bank Bond Issuance in February 2016. However, the Minister insisted that the majority of the calls out of a total of 18 made during the period under inquiry were made when he was still holding office as a Provincial Councillor.

He insisted that only two calls made during the time he was a member of the bond inquiry were relevant. The first call was made by Aloysius, who then returned the call. A request from Aloysius for a meeting was entertained, Jayasekara said. However, the Minister said that he did not see a need to report the details of the phone conversation or the subsequent meeting to COPE.

“I may have mentioned it to a few colleagues of mine but I did not put it on record at COPE meetings. There was no need for me to do so as the meeting with Aloysius had no influence on my contribution to the inquiry,” he said, challenging anyone to check verbatim records of COPE meetings.

Persistent questioning by a journalist caused the Sports Minister to lose his temper and then turn the tables and raise questions over a number of journalists who had called Aloysius. Coming to Jayasekara’s defence, his senior Cabinet Colleague Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne insisted that COPE members spoke to Aloysius to gain a better understanding of the complex transactions and technical issues involved in a bond transaction.

“Only the COPE chairman should be independent, it is okay for other members to talk to Aloysius. They [COPE members] are the ones who should be calling to ask about the complex transactions, we should check why other people have had communications with him,” Minister Senaratne insisted.

When questions of privacy were raised, Jayasekara clarified that no phone was tapped despite the matter being referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee by MPs following the revelation of phone records.

The call logs have been obtained through the call records of both Mahendran’s and Aloysius’ phones, which have been handed over to the CID for investigations, Jayasekara clarified.

He also said that the final report produced by the commission would be sent to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) which can then take action based on the report. However, this will be done only after amendments to the act governing the commission were made to empower the institution to take action based on committee reports.