JVP WARNS OVER UNUSUAL STOCK GAINS

Colombo (News 1st); Unusual gains in the Colombo Stock Exchange has instilled fear among the honest investors in the country, said the JVP on Tuesday (19).

National Organizer of the JVP Bimal Ratnayake speaking to reporters said there are concerns as to whether these gains are the result of fraud within the CSE, adding it is cause for concern when there are gains in the CSE when businesses are still not functioning properly. He said when the stock market is making gains artificially, it benefits the elite connected to the government, adding when one looks closer at the stock market, it would be evident the owners of the companies making gains also benefit from the recent legal amendments to lands. National Organizer of the JVP Bimal Ratnayake said Gotabaya Rajapaksa will be the only president who delisted 700,000 acres of forest land in the country from the forest cover. The Central Bank responding to money laundering concerns, over the surge experienced in the Colombo Stock Exchange during the past several weeks said all the money that come to the stock market, come through banking channels. Central Bank Deputy Governor Y. P. Fernando said the Financial Intelligence Unit has issued guidelines and instructions on how the bank should perform due diligence and report to the FIU. "Banks are following those instructions and FIU will continue to do their normal assessments," he said. Addressing concerns on the Employees Provident Fund, he said the monetary board is the trustee of the funds of the EPF, and based on that responsibility the monetary board has given the approval for investment guidelines. The EPF at the central bank is the operating authority of the monthly board instructions so they are having their investment committees on a daily basis and they make decisions evaluating the investment opportunities based on their investment portfolio, he said. "They have been investing in the equity market and also recently there have been certain transactions that have happened", he added.