Bond Commission Report to be Tabled in Parliament on January 17

Leader of the House,Minister Lakshman Kiriella wrote to the President requesting the Bond report along with the 34 PRECIFAC reports. Speaker Jayasuriya had also made the request orally. In response Presidential Secretariat has written to the Speaker.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya yesterday announced that President Maithripala Sirisena has informed that the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Bond issue will be presented to Parliament on January 17.

By letter the Secretary to the President Austin Fernando said the President has instructed to send 26 copies of the bond report to Parliament by next Wednesday.

Further it stated the copies of the Bond report were handed over to the Central Bank Governor Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy and the Committee to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption Director General Sarath Jayamanne yesterday morning to implement its recommendations.

Referring to report of the PRECIFAC the Presidential Secretariat has informed that it does not have the 34 reports submitted by it.The Secretary to the President has informed the Speaker that he would get the copies of those reports from the PRECIFAC Secretary and send them to Parliament.

At this time ,Chief Opposition Whip and JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake raised the question as to how could the Presidential Secretariat inform that it does not have the 34 reports handed over to the President by the PRECIFAC. “The reports were handed over to the President. It is irresponsible to claim that the reports are not with the Secretariat,” he added.

The Speaker after reading out the letter told the House that he intends to meet the Secretary to the President and the Attorney General to discuss the matter. The Speaker however appealed not to incite a clash between the Executive and Legislature as a result of this issue.