Ravi Karunanayake Speaks on AG’s Powers

Ravi Karunanayake Speaks on AG’s Powers

People, who have learnt a lesson of how centralization of power within a dictator took the country to ruin, will never oppose devolving the AG’s powers, said Ravi  Karunanayake.
Further he  said the individual powers of the auditor general are to be transferred to a three member commission.
The audit act that that paves way for the move will be tabled in parliament soon, he said
There is no delay in the process, and the government wants to do that in a democratic manner.
He said that  he is the only chartered accountancy qualified MP in the present parliament and  he wants to speed up the adoption of the audit act.
Meanwhile, the prime minister has told AG Gamini Wijesinghe to find another job, after the latter made a request to the constitutional council to raise his salary.
The AG’s salary is on par with secretaries of ministries, and raising his salary will lead to anomalies, the PM has noted.
The premier is unhappy with the AG over the report he has submitted to COPE on ex-Central Bank governor Arjun Mahendran.