Bond Scam Great Betrayal

The Chairman of People’s Bank Hemasiri Fernando, Chairman of Bank of Ceylon Roland Perera and Chairman of National Savings Bank Ashwin de Silva and some key officials of the three institutions testified before the presidential commission of inquiry probing the bond scams yesterday (4). They told the Bond Commission that on two occasions in 2016, the then Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake had instructed them to make bids at the treasury bond auctions at lower interest (yield) rates and their institutions had therefore been deprived of an opportunity to make substantial profits.

The senior officials of the three banks said that they had followed the instructions given by Minister Ravi Karunanayake, because he promised to them that the Central Bank would not accept bids at rates higher than the yield rate range.

When questioned as to why the state banks had carried out Karunanayake’s instructions, Hemasiri Fernando said the state banks belonged to the Treasury and therefore they had to abide by those instructions. He also said Karunanayake was the line minister therefore they had followed those instructions.Prosecution played a telephone recording of Perpetual Treasures Pvt. Ltd owner Arjun Aloysius mentioning the Finance Minister’s directions to his Chief dealer Kasun Palisena, was played before the commission yesterday.