Lawyer lodges complaint urging CA Sri Lanka to disenrol Cabraal 

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda 
A lawyer yesterday lodged a complaint with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) against former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal urging the accountancy body to disenrol Cabraal from its membership in terms of section 16 of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Act No 23 of 1959.
In his complaint, Attorney-at-law Mahesh Parakrama requested CA Sri Lanka to hold a suitable inquiry into the conduct of Ajith Nivard Cabraal immediately.

Ajith Nivard Cabraal who is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka has been named as a respondent in this complaint. Cabraal was the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) from July 2006 to January 2015 and 15th September 2021 to 4th April 2022. He also served as the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Economic Affairs from November 2019 to August 2020.

Further, he was appointed as a Member of Parliament under the National List representing Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and was later sworn in as a State Minister of Finance.

The complainant alleged that Cabraal was involved in several questionable and harmful transactions concerning the economy and financial stability of Sri Lanka including investment of Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) monies in Greek bonds and the questionable hedging deal that took place in or about 2008.The complainant further alleged that Cabraal acted in complete disregard of the continuous warnings issued by the international agencies from mid 2020 with regard to the possibility of a debt default by Sri Lanka if necessary mitigatory and preventive steps were not taken by the Central Bank. “In managing the foreign reserves of the CBSL, Cabraal, as the Governor of the CBSL decided to artificially maintain the foreign exchange rate causing severe loss and damage to the foreign reserves of CBSL and damaging the trust and  reliability of migrant workers and investors with regard to the financial system of Sri Lanka”, the complainant alleged.

The lawyer complained that a person who has a basic knowledge of economics and accountancy will not endorse such actions or decisions which are in complete violation of the basic principles of finance, economics and accountancy.“It is understood among the public that the said actions or decisions provided by the said Chartered Accountant and your member, Cabraal, led to the present economic crisis prevailing in Sri Lanka. As a result of the said bad decision making of your member Cabraal, Sri Lanka has faced the worst economic crisis in its history and people have lost lives, employment, good health and education,”stated the complainant.

It also noted that“ due to his professional qualifications being a Chartered Accountant and a member of your esteemed Institute, Cabraal is capable of holding the high positions concerning economic and financial management, stability and control of the economy of Sri Lanka. Therefore, he was appointed and placed in the said high positions expending public funds inter alia contributed by the tax payers of Sri Lanka to pay his salaries and other perks and privileges.” The complainant added that Cabraal is clearly not fit to provide professional advice as a Chartered Accountant and thereby, it is essential that he is prevented from giving professional advice as a Chartered Accountant in future to prevent similar catastrophic results being experienced by the parties who received such professional advice from him.  

The complainant is requesting CA Sri Lanka to hold a suitable inquiry under and in terms of Section 17 of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka Act No. 23 of 1959, in order to determine that Ajith Nivard Cabraal has committed professional misconduct and is not fit to be a member of the CA Sri Lanka.