Mahendran responds to The Island editorial

The following is a response former Central Bank Governor, Arjuna Mahendran, has sent for publication:

Dear Sir,

You have mentioned in the editorial of The Island of Friday 19 August 2022 that (quote) former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, who fled the country … (unquote). This is factually incorrect. It is on record of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Bond Issuance in 2017 that my counsel, Romesh de Silva PC, requested the permission of the Chairman of the Commission, Supreme Court Justice Chitrasiri, for me to leave Sri Lanka, which was granted in hearings open to the public.

Please print this correction to set the record straight.

ARJUNA MAHENDRAN

20 Cuscaden Road

Singapore

Editor’s note:

Dear Mr. Mahendran,

Thank you for your response.

You have taken a section of our editorial (‘Cops and Robbers’) out of context. This is what we said:

“Crooks who defaulted on loans from state banks to the tune of billions of rupees, got off scot-free and chose to lie low after the 2019 regime change, are currently sighted in the exalted company of the powers that be at UNP events. They are now safe and can make up for lost time. At this rate, one need not be surprised even if former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, who fled the country before being hauled up before courts over the Treasury bond scams, returns to Sri Lanka. (Emphasis added)

Mr. Mahendran, you have omitted an important part of the sentence in question—‘before being hauled up before courts over the Treasury bond scams’.

Doesn’t the act of leaving the country before legal action is instituted against you and staying overseas without returning to stand trial amount to fleeing?

Mr. Mahendran, when you sought permission to leave the country, did you inform the Presidential Commission or your learned counsel (or your friends in the Yahapalana government) that you would not return to Sri Lanka in case of legal action being instituted against you over the bond scams?

We also hinted at the possibility of your return to Sri Lanka as those who protected you during the Yahapalana government are now in power. Will you care to inform us whether you intend to return and have yourself acquitted of all charges, the way the likes of Basil Rajapaksa did after the 2019 regime change?

Meanwhile, shouldn’t those who sought permission for you to leave the country and allowed you to travel to Singapore, before legal action was taken against the bond scam suspects including you, also be held responsible for your refusal to return to Sri Lanka to stand trial, and causing unnecessary problems to the Attorney General’s Department, which has been trying to have you extradited, albeit without success?