At the request of Attorney General Dappula de Livera, Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya has appointed two separate Trials-at-Bar to hear cases in connection with two Central Bank Bond auctions that took place in March, 2016.
High Court Judges Dhammika Thotawatta, Manjula Thilakarathne and M.Irshadeen were appointed to the first Trial-at-Bar and High Court Judges Amal Ranaraja, Namal Balalle and Adithya Patabendige were appointed to the second Trial-at-Bar to hear Bond Scam cases by the Chief Justice, Attorney General’s Coordinating Officer State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne said.
Previously, taking into consideration the seriousness of the offenses as this incident has caused a huge impact on the national economy, the Attorney General has requested Chief Justice to appoint a Trial-at-Bar to try former Minister Ravi Karunanayake, former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran and nine others in connection with the Central Bank bond auctions that took place on March 29 and March 31, 2016.
The Attorney General alleged that Perpetual Treasuries Limited has used Central Bank’s important undisclosed information to artificially alter the final outcome of the Treasury Bond auction.
The Attorney General further alleged that this fraud has caused injustice to other primary sellers in the bond market and the PTL has acted cunningly and made a huge profit and conspired to cause a huge loss to the Government.
The Attorney General is also preparing to file a case against the accused in the Colombo High Court regarding the losses incurred to Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank and National Savings Bank on the second day of the second bond auction on March 31, 2016.
The charges are to be filed Under Section 56 of the Registered Securities and Exchange Ordinance for conspiracy, criminal misappropriation, cheating and market manipulation in respect of the Bond auctions in March 2016.
The indictments are to be filed against eleven accused. They are; former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, CBSL former Governor Arjuna Mahendran, Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) beneficiary owner Arjun Aloysius, PTL Chief dealer Kasun Palisena, Chairman of PTL Jeffrey Joseph Aloysius, Chitta Ranjan Hulugalle, Muthuraja Surendran, Ajahn Gardiye Punchihewa, Sangarapillai Pathumanapan, Badugoda Hewa Indika Saman Kumara.
The Attorney General alleged that the accused could be charged for conspiracy to commit criminal misappropriation in respect of Treasury Bonds to the face value of Rs.36.98 billion and 15 billion respectively in March 2016.
