Maithripala Playing Political Football With Bond Report

January 12, 2018

President Sirisena’s decision to sit on the report submitted by the Commission of Inquiry he appointed to investigated allegations regarding the Central Bank bond scam has irked the United National Party (UNP) leadership, Colombo Telegraph learns.

Sirisena, who made a statement regarding the report where he flagged wrongdoing by Ravi Karunanayake who is a Deputy Leader of the UNP, has been accused by the latter of revealing only a part of the report.

Karunanayake invoked the Right to Information Act to obtain a copy of the report from the Presidential Secretariat to no avail so far. Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is the Leader of the UNP, called for a Parliamentary debate on the subject, obviously in an attempt to get the President to release the report.

Sirisena has not given ear to these pleas from UNP quarters but has nevertheless submitted a copy to the Governor of the Central Bank for necessary action.

Sources close to the UNP are of the opinion that Sirisena’s reluctance to share the report with the party that helped him become President and is the major partner of the ruling coalition is nothing but a strategy to obtain political advantage in view of the forthcoming local government elections.

 

With only parts of the report hinted at in his statement, Sirisena has given the impression that all the culprits belong to the UNP. Wickremesinghe, on the other hand, has demanded investigation into wrongdoing by the previous regime and indulged in a sloganeering exercise in Parliament to back this call.

While Wickremesinghe has not openly cast aspersions at Sirisena, sections of the UNP’s parliamentary group, notably Sujeewa Senasinghe, has openly accused Sirisena of deliberately orchestrating things to the disadvantage of the UNP.

Read More