18 January 2018 04:30 pm
He said the government would take steps to implement recommendations made by the Presidential Commission that investigated the controversial bond transaction of the Central Bank.
The Prime Minister said the Commission, in its report, mentioned that Perpetual Treasuries Ltd made an undue profit of Rs.9.2 billon.
However, he said the Central Bank, remaining under his purview, had frozen financial assets worth Rs. 12 billion belonging to PTL. Therefore, he said Rs.9.2 billion that was lost to the state could be recovered.
“We will recover this amount. Therefore, there is no loss to the state. If there is any official involved in it, we will implement the law against him accordingly,” he said.
He said, “We cooperated fully with the investigation since the allegation against the bond scam surfaced. We will take steps for the implementation of the Commission’s recommendations. We have been able to prove that ours is a policy-oriented, ethical and pious government. No other government has acted in that manner in the recent past. The judiciary took decisions independently. The media worked fearlessly. Also, we have appointed a committee headed by Minister Tilak Marapana to recommend action if there was any member of the party who is found involved in this transaction. This is the tradition of the UNP”.
The Prime Minister said the government was elected to eliminate corruption and frauds in all its manifestations.
He said the allegations of the bond scam came up shortly after the government was formed, but it was not swept under the carpet.
“We appointed an investigative committee within two weeks. During the period, the Central Bank governor at the time stayed away from duties. We appointed a member from the opposition as the COPE chairman,” he said.