The United National Party (UNP) charges that the Parliamentary Committee On Public Enterprises (COPE) cannot issue a report in the Sri Lanka Central Bank’s controversial Bond Issue and that the relevant report by the DEW Gunasekera-led committee had been done in haste.

During a discussion at the UNP headquarters ‘Sirikotha’ this morning (07 July), the party’s Sujeewa Senasinghe, Rosy Senanayake and Eran Wickremaratne expressed their views in the presence of party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe while criticizing the COPE report and the way it had been released.

They charged that this report had been prepared on the need of some other group.

Sujeewa Senasinghe said that hence, he would take legal action on the way DEW Gunasekera, as chairman of COPE had acted while releasing this report.

They added that at a moment Parliament was about to be dissolved, this report had been released hastily even amidst the opposition of the UNP members of the COPE.

While expressing his views, Eran Wickremaratne said that there has not been any huge loss incurred as portrayed by the media in the Central Bank’s controversial Bond Issue.

Though there had been a 1.3 per cent increase in interest for Rs. 09 billion, it has to be calculated for 30 years, he said.

During a media conference, former chairman of the Committee On Public Enterprises or COPE, DEW Gunasekera had said that President Maithripala Sirisena is duty bound to study the 447-page report on the Bond Issue with allegations against the Central Bank and its Governor.

While speaking in Colombo on 03 July, DEW Gunasekera said that the committee had taken about one month to prepare this report and that he expects the next Parliament to act on this report which includes all details regarding the Bond Issue controversy.

“If the President, who is the Executive, has the right, the responsibility, the authority then let him call for the report and read it. Sovereignty now rests only with President Maithripala Sirisena. If he has such authority then he need not ask anybody. If he calls for this report and goes through he could come to a conclusion,” said DEW Gunasekera.

This report could not be submitted to Parliament since it had been dissolved unexpectedly and in haste. If there had been one week’s time it could have been submitted to Parliament,” he added.

Though the three-member committee appointed by the Prime Minister to investigate into the Bond Issue affair had taken three months for this, finally it had released only a three-page report.

There were alternate ways of borrowing without issuing international bonds. It these methods had been resorted to then the government could have borrowed at far lesser interests, pointed out DEW Gunasekera.