MP Handunetti believes Commission will uphold COPE recommendations

By Sarath Dharmasena and Shyam Nuwan Ganewatte-May 8, 2017

Chairman of the COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises), parliamentarian Sunil Handunetti, MP, yesterday testifying before the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry probing the alleged bond scam, said he believed the Commission would grant approval for implementing the recommendations of the COPE report.

The COPE Chairman said the implementation of his committee’s recommendations had to be done in accordance with parliamentary responsibility for public finance.

Even after the conclusion of the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry sitting, the Central Bank as an institution responsible for implementing the COPE recommendations had to report to parliament, Handuneetti said.

He said 15 MPs, including him, had agreed to the COPE report without footnotes and nine parliamentarians had approved it with footnotes and all of them had agreed on the conclusions and recommendations of the COPE report.

In answer to questions posed by the Commission members, Handunetti said some objections could not be considered important as MPs have agreed to conclusions and recommendations of the COPE report and footnotes had been incorporated only to explain the points on which there had been no agreement, he said.

Senior Deputy Solicitor General Priyantha Navana: Who added the footnotes?

Handunetti: Harsha de Silva.

The Commission is scheduled to summon Deputy Minister Harsha de Silva to testify on the footnotes.

The evidence of Handunetti was led by Deputy Solicitor General Priyantha Navana.