Retired former Deputy Governor Dr. W. A. Wijewardena said, that the Monetary Board and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka should be held responsible for the loss incurred by the questioned issuance of 30-year Treasury Bonds in 2015.
It was also insisted that the position is his personal opinion only. Former DG Wijewardena said according to his calculations, the immediate loss due to the questioned transaction is Rs.532 million and the long term loss would run up to Rs.10 billion.
He pointed out to the Commission that the CBSL officers who testified before the Pitipana Commission, have been of the viewpoint that there have been no loss incurred by the questioned treasury bond issuance.
He also said the decisions to do away with the 5% interest rate provided for commercial banks and to accept 10.5 billion through 30 year bonds, resulted in all the structures of interest rates having gone high.
He said every officer in the CBSL is fully qualified in their education and professional expertise, so that they are responsible to notify regarding a discrepancy as all of them are expected to exercise ‘due diligence’ . If someone is to rob our workplace, we cannot ignore the attempt saying it is the responsibility of the security service.
Dr. Wijewardena was testifying before the Presidential Commission inquiring into the Treasury Bond issue. Apart from being a senior Central Banker and as the longest served Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Dr.Wijewardena has been the expert advisor to the Gamini Pitipana Committee and the first COPE subcommittee chaired by D.E.W. Gunasekara that probed into the Treasury Bond issue.
Dr.Wijewardena also said the Treasury Bond Tender Board is also responsible for the loss incurred by the issuance of 30 year Treasury Bonds on February 27, 2015. He said the Tender Board should have referred this to the Finance Ministry Secretary regarding its position.
