Jehan Amartunge's Rs. 10bn loan under investigation

Colombo (News1st) - The Secretary to the Ministry of Public Enterprise Ravindra Hevavitharana says, that an investigation has been launched into the incident, where the People's bank granted a loan of 10 billion rupees to a company in which Jehan Amaratunga, who is a director of the bank, is functioning as the Executive Deputy Chairman. The Secretary to the ministry added that the People's bank was informed last week to produce all documents of the transactions to the ministry. Hevavitharana noted that the investigations will look into how the loan was granted and what collateral has been given to the bank. Kesara Kottegoda, the Deputy Secretary of the Ceylon Bank Employees union notes that they requested the details pertaining to the loan through an RTI but that the bank did not issue these details. Kottegoda hopes that the investigative committee that has been appointed will conduct a proper inquiry into this and reveal the facts to the country. UNP MP S.M.Marrikar also expressed his views on the transactions. He noted that the people who wear suits and sit in AC rooms are not the same people who worked tirelessly to bring this Government into power. The Parliamentarian believes that these individuals have hijacked the Government's actions. The Police FCID which was established after the current Government came into power has conducted numerous investigations on large-scale fraud. They have completed many investigations and had handed in the file to the Attorney General's department, but how many cases have been filed by the AG's Department? The question remains, when will those who defrauded public funds be punished?