JVP: Has govt. done anything to have Mahendran brought here?

By Saman Indrajith

The Central Bank annual did not reflect the economic realities prevailing in the country, where many suffered and could not make ends meet, while the government boasted of improvement and development, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake told Parliament on Tuesday (8).

 Participating in a debate on the Central Bank 2019 report at the time of adjournment of the House, MP Dissanayake said: “The Central Bank report would show you plusses and minuses. Although it contains a rosy picture of a country that is on the path of development, the prevailing reality is otherwise. There are many schools in the country without basic facilities. There are thousands of farmers unable to have proper prices for their produce and unable to find fertilizer required for their crops. There are many fishers with sighs of frustration at the end of the day because they cannot get a decent price for their catch which is taken away from them by the middlemen in the fishing industry.

“The Central Bank bond scam was one of the main issues that had been in discussion in this country. What action has this government done to get former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran who is responsible for the scam, brought here? He is there in Singapore. His name has been changed but the person is the same.

“We know the place of a person in a court after he has been sentenced to death. He is not even kept in the normal cells. He should be in death row cells. They are given a different dress in the prison. But now we have a person who has been sentenced to death among us. This impunity is not a joke. It is not a simple matter when a government plays with the laws of the land. A person who is convicted and given death sentence could commit any other offence because he has already been given the capital punishment and nothing more could be given to him.

State Minister Sisira Jayakody: When an accused has filed a case before the Court of Appeal he is only a suspect. He has the right to be considered innocent till the judgment comes.

MP Dissanayake: Just because you shout loud that does not rectify the error. What would be the situation of this country when a death row convict participates in law making process? How would the government justify such an immoral act?

Speaking of the Central Bank report, I would like to ask from the government what action they had taken on the contents of the Central Bank reports from 2007 to 2012?

Chief Government Whip Minister Johnston Fernando: Why do you not speak of the Central Bank reports of the time when the yahapalana government was there?

MP Dissanayake: If I have the powers to punish fraudsters and cheats, many of those in this House today will be in jails. If I had such powers, I do not think there would be a Johnston Fernando in this Chamber today to point fingers at me. If I had such powers, there would be none of those who involved in the central bank bond scam roaming free. Just because you wear white, you are not clean. If you want I can take each of you one by one and list the offences you had committed to misappropriate public funds.

Government rank MPs shouted and demanded MP Dissanayake to speak of the JVP led 1989-90 insurgency and damage inflicted by the JVP members on national assets.

MP Dissanayake: It has been estimated that the loss caused by investing EPF monies during 2007-2012 period was more than 11 billion rupees. Would the government speak of that too?

State Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal raising a point of order: It is the JVP that inflicted heaviest economic loss to this country.

The Chair said that it was not a point of order.