{"id":186535,"date":"2018-01-18T17:53:33","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T12:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=186535"},"modified":"2018-01-19T19:01:04","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T13:31:04","slug":"pms-special-address-on-bond-scam-ranil-paints-damning-bond-report-as-a-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/pms-special-address-on-bond-scam-ranil-paints-damning-bond-report-as-a-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"PM’s Special Address On Bond Scam: Ranil Paints Damning \u2018Bond Report\u2019 As A Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in a special address to the nation portrayed the entire saga over investigating the Central Bank bond scam<\/a> as a victory for the Government.<\/p>\n

He has claimed that the process<\/a> has confirmed that \u2018the government is acting in a transparent manner.\u2019 He further claimed that the Central Bank, which comes under his purview in his capacity as the Minister of National Policy, already holds Rs 12 billion belonging to Perpetual Treasuries and that therefore the Rs 9.2 billion the company made illegally can be recovered without any cost to the government.<\/p>\n

Wickremesinghe also said that while all officials associated with the scam would be punished according to the law and insisted that he had lent all necessary support to all investigations into the matter. This, he claims, proves the government\u2019s discipline, civility and integrity.<\/p>\n

Colombo Telegraph notes however that Wickremesinghe continued to place faith in the then Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran even after it became apparent that the bond issue transactions were suspicious. In fact Wickremesinghe offered Mahendran an advisory post after the latter resigned as Governor.<\/p>\n