22 March 2017 04:28 am
The Prime Minister in his response to a question asked by joint opposition parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardane said this new legislation would include provisions to legalise the sale of bonds in the past. "Legalising all past bond sales is necessary because problems may arise when it is time for buyers to redeem them," he said.
The Prime Minister said the main objective of the new legislation was to stop the gazetting of bond sales after they are issued. All governments have followed a procedure of issuing gazette notices after the sale of bonds. He said a then deputy finance minister Sarath Amunugama had to issue a gazette notice for a bond sale which had taken place during the time of his predecessor K. N. Choksy.
The Prime Minister said new laws would- also bring provisions to govern the primary dealers and to ensure transparency. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)