Validity of forensic audit report triggers furore in Parliament

Parliament went into an uproar today when the government questioned the legal validity of the forensic audit report conducted on the bond scam and whether it is possible to debate on such a report in the House.

Minister Bandula Gunawardene who raised the issue in the House said the forensic audit has been done by an external sources. He therefore questioned the validity of the forensic audit.

“We are ready for the debate, but we only question the legal value of the forensic audit,” he said.

Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardene said it is mentioned in the audit report it self that it has no legal value. Therefore he also argued whether there is any point of debating on an illegal document.

“The opposition should read the forensic report first and find out what the report had said about its legal validity,” he said.

Mr. Gunawardene said Speaker should give a ruling on it.

Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa questioned as to how the government could question about the debate after having agreed for a two-day debate in the House on it at the party leaders meeting. “Mr. Gunawardene represented the government and also Minister Bandula Gunawardene at the party leaders meeting and agreed for a two-day debate,” he said.

JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said Parliament has debated on documents prepared by outside sources on earlier occasions as well. “Some MPs do not want to hear what the report says about Arjun Mahendran, while others disagree with what it says about Ajith Nivard Cabral. Our intention is to debate the report, so that the people would be able to find out the truth in the report,” he said.(Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)