The UNP today accused COPE Chairman D.E.W. Gunasekera of politicising the parliamentary probe into the sale of Central Bank bonds.

Deputy Justice Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe urged that the controversy should be investigated by parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises which would be set up by the future Parliament. He said this probe should be much broader and should include a number of other shady deals involving the sale of treasury bonds in the recent past.

He said that though it was reported that Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran’s son in law had some connection to Perpetual Treasuries it was also revealed that even former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s sister had been a director of Perpetual Treasuries.

He said there were three different reports drafted by the COPE with regard to the bond issue with some information in the original report being deleted in the other two reports.

The deputy minister said the original report recommended that a more detailed study had to be done summoning more witnesses but this had been cut off in the other reports. He pointed his finger at COPE Chairman D.E.W. Gunasekera for having politicised the probe.

The deputy minister said the incumbent Central Bank Governor had not been directly charged in any of the three reports.  (Yohan Perera and Dharshana Sanjeewa)