Sri Lanka’s Attorney General has opined that the findings of the Forensic Audit reports should be treated as having the potential to be evidence in investigations and access should be limited to those who have statutory authority to access them, a Central Bank statement said.

Given the nature of findings, the Monetary Board sought the opinion of the Attorney General about the distribution of the Forensic Audit reports including, specifically, as to whether the reports should be made public.

The Attorney General has further informed that once the reports and related documents have been fully considered, any extracts thereof which can be disseminated in the public domain without prejudice to investigations and ongoing or future litigation will be notified to the Central Bank.

The Monetary Board added that it will act in accordance with the advice given by the Attorney General.

The forensic studies were carried out based on the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate and inquire into and report on the issuance of Treasury Bonds during the period 1 February, 2015 to 31 March 2016 and matters that had come to light over the recent years in audit reports and findings of internal investigations relating to certain regulatory and agency functions undertaken by the Central Bank.