Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka highlighted the importance of taking action against those who committed crimes during the previous regime without delay by respecting the mandate given by the people, yesterday.
By taking action against the members of government, the President and the Prime Minister have shown that there is no political revenge behind these investigations and that they only want to take action against the real culprits in a transparent manner, he added.
The Joint Opposition (JO) has no ethical right to criticize the role of the presidential commission of inquiry appointed to investigate the treasury bond issue, the Minister said.
Addressing the media yesterday at the JHU office, Minister Ranawaka said that the JO has no backbone to raise their voice against Basil Rajapaksa, who was involved in various financial malpractices during the previous regime.
Refuting the allegations made by various groups claiming that the presidential commission of inquiry appointed to investigate the Central Bank bond issue has no power to take any action against culprits, Minister Ranawaka said that there are two types of presidential commissions; ordinary and special commissions.
Special commissions have the power to make recommendations for punishments and ordinary commissions can make recommendations to take legal action.
But most people do not know that the powers vested with the ordinary presidential commissions of inquiry had been extended during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime.
The presidential commission of inquiry appointed to investigate the bond issue was appointed with additional powers. So it has power to investigate the case, make a report and refer it to the Attorney General to file court cases under criminal law or civil law, based on the facts gathered by the commission.
The Central Bank bond issue is not a simple case, because it has badly affected the social, political and economic sectors of the country. The Perpetual Treasuries Company, which started their business with a Rs. 300 million capital in 2014, had earned a profit of more than Rs. 25 billion by April, 2015.
Responding to a question asked by a journalist with regard to Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapksa, the Minister said that the UNP should decide whether Minister Wijedasa should continue his position as a minister of the government or not, since he is a member of the UNP.
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