BOND SCAM : Lack of legal action 4 years later

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The  Voice Against Corruption (VOC) convened a media briefing in Colombo today(February 24). Wasantha Samarasinghe, the Convener to Voice Against Corruption noted that it has been 4 years since the Central Bank bond scam. He noted that Arjun Aloysius has been released and evidently, steps are not taken to recover the stolen money. He stressed that instead of trying to recover the money, Ranil Wickremesinghe is trying to change the Securities and Exchange Ordinance because Perpetual treasuries limited has deposited Rs.12bn in the bank. He mentioned that the Rs. 12bn in the bank includes Rs. 8.5bn which Aloysius had borrowed from People's Bank, Bank of Ceylon and from two other private banks. The VOC called on President Maithripala Sirisena to reveal how 166 people divided Rs.1196mn withdrawn from the bank account of the Mendis Company among themselves, a fact included in the Bond Scam commission report according to Samarasinghe. He also noted that it was revealed Rs.3250mn was distributed among politicians and state officials by Arjun Aloysius. Samarasinghe expressed regret that stepas had not been taken to reveal these names or initiate legal action. VOC also urged the Governor of the Central Bank to conduct a forensic audit and find out where the stolen money is kept. JVP MP, Sunil Handunnetti who was present at the event noted that if President Maithripala Sirisena is actually the symbol of good governance he should be able to produce Arjuna Mahendran before the court and make the complete bond commission report public. Attorney-at-Law Sunil Watagala, Western Provincial Councillor reminded how the Prime Minister assured the people and the authorities that he would hold everyone accountable for the bond scam yet in vain. He noted that prime minister mentioned a red alert issued by the Interpol which is not enough and the public wants to see how foreign embassies are conducting their operations on this matter as well.