Allow officials of SC, AG’s Dept to sit at COPE meetings

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera   

Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) Chairman Sunil Hadunnetti yesterday requested Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to make provisions to allow officials of the Supreme Court or Attorney General’s Department in the meetings of the COPE and Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) so that legal action can be taken against perpetrators based on facts revealed in the committee meetings.   

He told Parliament that even though the COPE and COPA were not vested with judicial powers, the facts revealed during committee proceedings could be considered as eye-witness when the proceedings take place under the observations of the legal officers.   

He said calling legal officers to observe committee proceedings would help expedite the legal proceedings and added that there were examples from foreign countries on such moves. The Chairman said this while tabling the first COPE report of the fourth session of the eigth Parliament.   

JVP MP Sunil Handunetti said yesterday the government and the opposition criticizing the forensic audit report on bond issuance was an obstacle to the investigations and the report should be produced in court for legal action before dissolution of Parliament.   

He said a special court should be established to hear the case involving the bond scam and that proceedings should be telecast live on television so that people could witness the real scenario. He said some government members had started questioning the report claiming that it had not considered the profits earned, the authenticity of the firm that carried out the audit and that fresh investigation should be conducted after lodging a police complaint.