‘Open Letter’ To Chandra Jayaratne: Why Is Auditor Corruption Ignored?
By Amrit Muttukumaru –August 2, 2016
Amrit Muttukumaru
In recent times you have written ‘Open Letters’ almost on a weekly basis also to the President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka urging a credible investigation of the alleged Central Bank Treasury Bond scams and the need for accountability for any wrongdoing. Your focus has been on the role of then CB Governor, Arjuna Mahendran despite other parties such as the Bank of Ceylon also said to be involved. The mere replacement of Mahendran with a new Governor by no means closes the chapter on this saga. One would have thought the first order of priority of the new Governor – Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy said to be a “respected economist” with “integrity” would have been to restore the battered credibility of the CB by initiating a credible in-house investigation to determine whether due process on Bond issues were breached and by whom and the public duly informed. Maybe he has done so except for the fact the public are unaware. I trust he will set the record straight in the public interest and for his own credibility.
However, the focus of this ‘open letter’ is on a much larger issue – the systemic corruption in this country primarily due to the complicity or negligence of professionals – particularly chartered accountants/auditors and lawyers. After all chartered accountants /auditors are the first line of defence against corruption in all entities dealing with financial resources. Unless this is meaningfully addressed, scams will galore as we witness on a regular basis. Current examples of credible allegations of wrongdoing apart from the Bond issues relate to (i) purchase of coal (ii) road construction contracts (iii) import of luxury vehicles (iv) construction of 65,000 houses in the North and East.
One could even question whether abuse of power relating to nepotism and cronyism in key appointments to state institutions could have occurred if professionals stood their ground on principle. An example is the senior chartered accountant with impressive management experience as Executive Chairman of a leading state institution tolerating two ‘Joint Managing Directors’ one of whom is said to be closely related to a key cabinet minister. Other glaring examples of nepotism and cronyism relate to Sri Lanka Telecom and Sri Lankan Airlines.
In a similar vein could the alleged terrible corruption and abuse of power under the Rajapaksa administration have taken place without the complicity or negligence of professionals?
Let me emphasize – this by no means exonerates wrongdoing by politicians. They must be held accountable for their command responsibility.
