PM at COI tomorrow: The end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?
Rajan Philips-November 18, 2017, 6:46 pm
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe is expected to appear tomorrow at the inquiry to answer direct questions from the Commissioners, after submitting an affidavit of answers to their questions in writing. The revelations this week about phone calls between UNP parliamentarians, serving on the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), and Arjun Aloysius, the young principal of Perpetual Treasuries Pvt Limited (PTL), has led to wildly contrasting reactions. Second tier Joint Opposition MPs are calling for an inquiry into the alleged contacts between UNP MPs and the PTL chief. One of them has gone so far as to ask President Sirisena to leave the (UNP) government and appoint a new Prime Minister (Don’t JO MPs know that 19A has erased the President’s power to remove a sitting PM?). According to another story, dismissed by many as fake and floated by the Rajapaksa entourage, the President has been sending signals to the Prime Minister to temporarily step down before appearing at the inquiry.