Mahendran insisted on Rs.10bn bid instead of Rs.2.6bn: Dr. Aazin

3 March 2017 07:07 pm

Former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran had recommended that the Rs.2.6 billion bid made at the bond auction be ignored and the Rs.10 billion be accepted instead, Central Bank Statistics Department Additional Director Dr. M.Z.M. Aazin today told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) inquiring into the CB bond issue.

He testified that the documents relating to these recommendations had not been submitted to the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) when it inquired into this matter.

Dr. Aazin said the former governor who visited the auction once, had returned for the second time one and half hours later and asked about the details of the Bond sale and inspected the ‘Bid Sheet’.

He told the Commission that all Central Bank Directors including him expressed their objections to the instructions given by the then governor Mahendran but they kept mum after the Deputy Governor told them that Mr. Mahendran was not keen to change his stance.

Dr. Aazin’s evidence was led by Senior Deputy Solicitor General Priyantha Navana who assists the Special Commission comprising Supreme Court Judges K. T. Chithrasiri and Prasanna Jayawardane and former Deputy Auditor General V. Kandasamy. (Manopriya Gunasekara and Ranjan Katugampola)