9 November 2011 08:13 am
Speaking to Daily Mirror online exclusively at the conclusion of Parliamentary proceedings yesterday UNP Kurunegala District Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara asked the government what logic it had behind the introduction of the Expropriation bill.
"The first fact is that the government has institutions coming under the state that is making losses of over 6000 Million rupees, also take for example People's Leasing a subsidiary of the government owned People's Bank which had brought in a profits of three billion. They decided to issue 25% of the shares of the company to the public which implies that 25% of the stake of this profit making public body will be vested in the hands of the public, just look at the contradiction of the actions of the government. On the one hand it has public bodies that are making humongous losses and on the other the ones making profits that are resold to private entities," he said.
Jayasekara speaking to the Daily Mirror previously asserted that most foreign investors who had invested in the stock market for a long period of time would leave the country. "I told you earlier that most foreign funds that have invested in the market will pull out,yesterday two foreign funds namely Leopard Fund and LR Global have taken out all their investments, where is the economy of this country headed? this bill coupled with the share market fiasco will only make matter worse," he said.
He further went on to allege that in the issuing of shares of the People Leasing Company there had been fraudulent transactions. "The persons responsible for the issuing of shares issued shares worth Rs.982 million to themselves which consisted nine individuals. These people did not invest a red cent and were to take Rs.982 million worth of shares coolly," he said.
Subsequently Minister Sarath Amunugama had assured the house that this transaction will be looked into and necessary measures would be taken to make void the transaction. However the issuing of shares is to continue.
Jayasekara went on to add that with regard to the downturn in the Colombo Stock Exchange it was the best time for manipulation. "The stocks have hit rock bottom and all the big players who manipulate the market usually will find that this is the best time to buy shares in millions, the removing of the Director General is obviously not going to solve the problem, the SEC has to take immediate and concrete action," he said.
Jayasekara hot on the heels of challenging the validity of the Expropriation Bill in Parliament yesterday asked if 200,000 operational accounts are to suffer for activities of a handful of individuals. "The problem with regard to big time manipulation is because of a few people, a majority of the individuals have invested their hard earned money in the market and are left destitute, is the SEC going to continue to penalise these honest investors due to the folly of a very people?" he asked. (Hafeel Farisz)