Prime Minister Revealing the Background of Former and Current CB Governors.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. said yesterday that Prabhakaran had fought against the so-called upper caste Vellalar aristocrats of Jaffna like former Central Bank governor Arjun Mahendran and his successor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy.

Speaking to a group of UNP politicians at his office yesterday (07), the PM said Mahendran would not return until he would be cleared by COPE. PM endorsed him  as  a very good bank governor, and has a deep understanding of international financial affairs which the world acknowledges.

Dr. Coomaraswamy too, is of similar calibre, he said, noting that their fathers were good friends since their school times and Coomaraswamy’s father went onto serve as deputy director general of the GCEC and was instrumental in creating the Biyagama FTZ.

Both Mahendran and Coomaraswamy have had their basic learning under ex-finance minister Ronnie de Mel, he added.

The PM  did not answer a journalist’s question   as to whether former president Chandrika Kumaratunga had mediated to settle the CB governor dispute, but  turned the discussion elsewhere.