The Central Bank transaction for the purchase of a property in New York has not been properly accounted for, Parliament was informed yesterday.

The Central Bank is reported to have purchased a building with a floor area of 12,000 square feet in New York on August 30 last year at a total cost of US$ 5,075,000.

Deputy Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama gave these details in response to a question by United National Party (UNP) MP Eran Wickramaratne. The deputy minister said the Central Bank Monetary Board had endorsed this transaction.

“The property, which is now solely owned by the Monetary Board, was purchased with the intention of using it for future CB operations,” he said and added that the building had been rented out to our External Affairs Ministry at US$ 68,000.

In a supplementary question, Mr. Wickramaratne said that according to the Monetary Board Advisory Audit Committee Report this transaction had not been properly accounted for.

The deputy minister said this was the first such investment made by the Central Bank, and therefore it had not been included in the Annual Report.

He said such purchases would be reflected in future CB annual reports and added that there were no brokers involved in facilitating this purchase.

“It was done with the facilitation of the Government Chief Valuer and External Affairs Ministry officials,” the deputy minister said. (Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera)