The Island Editorial

‘Yahapalana’ stench

26 October 2016

 

An internal investigation conducted by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) into Treasury bond scams has shed light on unusually huge profits made by one of the primary dealers, Perpetual Treasuries, belonging to the son-in-law of former CBSL Governor Arjuna Mahendran. A damning report put out by the Auditor General’s Department on the issue has held Mahendran accountable for the irregular bond transactions. Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) Chairman’s report has also established this fact. But, some self-important UNP MPs are all out to take Mahendran off the hook at the behest of their political bosses. Those who projected themselves as paragons of virtue before the last general election and duped the public into voting for them have laid bare their true faces!

The UNP group of the COPE, after the exit of the committee chairman, Sunil Handunnetti, in a huff on Monday, announced that Perpetual Treasuries would be probed and asked to explain how it had made huge profits as a primary dealer. The question is whether it is in keeping with best parliamentary practices or the Standing Orders for a group of MPs, representing one political party, to make such ex cathedra statements after smoking out the COPE chairman. One may recall that the UNP refused—and rightly so—to accept controversial decisions the UPFA members of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), which ‘tried’ the then Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, made without any Opposition MPs present. It is now doing what it used to condemn while it was in the Opposition!

Regrettably, a section of the media shamelessly sided with the government propagandists and made a futile bid to mislead the public into believing that the COPE Chairman’s damning report did not exist. It prepared the stage for Monday’s COPE drama.

One is being naïve if one thinks a cornered UNP has undertaken to conduct an investigation with a view to punishing the culprits. If Perpetual Treasuries is to be probed it is sure to deny having received any inside information from Mahendran as regards the bond auctions at issue so that the UNP can claim there has been no wrongdoing on the part of the former Central Bank Governor. According to a popular saying in this country it is futile to solicit the assistance of a crystal gazer to catch a thief who happens to be her son. It is equally pointless to try to nab a culprit by investigating his son-in-law! If the decision of the ‘hijacked’ COPE is implemented an escape route will be opened for those responsible for the bond scams.

President Maithripala Sirisena is left with two alternatives. He must either have the bond scams which, according to experts, have cost the public purse more than ten billion rupees, probed by a special presidential commission with the media given access to its proceedings or publicly renounce his much-advertised commitment to good governance. People reposed their trust in him and elected him President last year. He is responsible for the formation of the present government. He must live up to people’s expectations. Whoever would have thought that wealthy men in three-piece suits would rob the bank of the banks with impunity on his watch?

Meanwhile, parliamentarians have no right to ride rough shod over public officials or anyone else, for that matter, summoned before parliamentary committees. Let Speaker Karu Jayasuriya be urged to probe the allegations that the Auditor General and Central Bank officials were verbally abused by some COPE members.

Time was when the COPE commanded the respect of the public though parliamentary standards were falling. The watchdog committee conducted thorough probes; it, to its credit, exposed numerous irregularities and malpractices in the public sector institutions and, above all, illegal transactions such as the sale of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and the Lanka Marine Service bunkering facility by the UNP-led UNF government (2001-2004).

Sadly, the misconduct of some MPs has caused a severe erosion of public faith in the COPE, which is being manipulated to cover up mega scams and defend rogues! If this is the brand of good governance the present administration promised, the country will certainly be a much better place without it!