The Attorney General has announced that it is not suitable for the forensic audit relating to the bond scam to be disseminated among members of Parliament.
This was announced to the members of Parliament today by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya.
Prorogation of Parliament on December 2 2019 has prevented the presentation of theforensic aut reports on the bond scam till January 03rd
Unlike the Presidential Commission on the bond scam that had the mandate to look at events only the year 2015 while the forensic audit has covered the matter extensively as far back as 2007.
Even the previous parliament COPE report on the CBSL Bond Scam could not be submitted to the 7th parliament due to the prorogation of it.
The Attorney General had also opined that the findings in the reports, annexes and exhibits should be treated as having the potential to be evidence in investigations and ongoing and future legal actions and access should be limited to those who have statutory authority to access them.
He emphasized that the recipients maintain confidentiality in respect of the contents of the reports in order to avoid any possible prejudicial effect on investigations and ongoing and future litigation.
The Attorney General had further informed that once the reports and related documents have been fully considered, any extracts thereof can be disseminated in the public domain without prejudice to the investigations.
The FAs were conducted in five assignments as set out below on Terms of Reference that were finalized in consultation with the Auditor General and the Attorney General:
1.Issuance of Treasury Bonds during the period from 01 January 2002 to 28 February 2015 by the Public Debt Department
2.Primary and secondary market transactions of the Employees’ Provident Fund involving Treasury Bonds issued/transacted during the period from 01 January 2002 to 28 February 2015
3.Transactions of the Employees’ Provident Fund from 01 January 1998 to 31 December 2017 in listed and unlisted equities
4.Issuance of Treasury Bonds and remittance of funds received to the General Treasury during the period from 01 February 2015 to 31 March 2016 by the Public Debt Department
5.Conduct of the supervisory and regulatory role by the Superintendent of Public Debt/Director, Supervision of Non-Bank Financial Institutions pertaining to selected Primary Dealers from 01 January 2009 to 31 December 2017
All 5 FAs have been completed and the final reports have been submitted to the Parliament.
(LI)