COPE REPORT – The real crooks are still at large, not even being mentioned

The General Public by and large were baying for the blood of the former Governor of the Central Bank, to be implicated by COPE for the Bond Scandal, and they appeared to have got what they asked for, but is that the whole story?

The former Governor for his part has said that he will return from Singapore to clear his name from this implied indiscretion that has been the talking point in Columbian circles since it blew up well over 20 months ago, and could well have prevented the UNF from obtaining an overall majority in the Parliament at the General Election in the following August.

Those responsible for the Auction, the Public Debt Department of the Central Bank, have yet to answer for their sins, as it is they in the end who have since “Time Immemorial” called for offers to purchase the Bonds from Primary Dealers, who IN THE END decide who does and who does not get allocated the Bonds that are sold to raise funds for the Government.

If common sense was to return to this argument, without any personal agenda, then it MUST be accepted that during the previous Government’s tenure, their political appointment (just as Mahendran was this Government’s political appointment) of Nivaard Cabral should be held responsible for the way the rules were circumvented where instead of having auctions, they determined how much, what rate, as well as who should be given the allocation of the Bond sales to which Primary Dealer!

Now it is for the Attorney General, acting as the Government’s Prosecutor, to determine if there is a prima facie case to charge Mahendran for any impropriety and if so, let the Court determine if Mahendran in guilty, having regard to all the evidence available in this regard. It is only fair for the Country, Mahendran and also for Perpetual Treasuries, the company that was allocated the Bonds, after bidding for them, that this be so! Otherwise JUSTICE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SEEN TO BE DONE, LET ALONE DONE!

It is obvious that the sins of the past Regime with regard to the issuance of Bonds, has conveniently been forgotten and the Role of the then Governor, the connivance of the Public Debt Department and any Primary Dealer, who would be party to any insider trading scam/scheme on a long term basis, would NEVER see the light of day. Due to forced nature of allocation, and the lack of auctions to determine market rates of interest, this will not permit a calculation of a LOSS, even if large losses were incurred by the STATE.

One MUST be cognizant of the fact that one of the Government’s and Mahendran’s chief critics, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank was in a senior position at the Central Bank during that time, and appeared to have played ball with the gross improprieties at that time, but who now mysteriously is being used as an expert in this matter. In reality, it was he who wanted that position of Governor, and since he did not get it, has had a serious case of antagonism since.

I would like to point out at this stage, that I was of the opinion (as mentioned in this blog on January 12^th 2015) that Mahendran SHOULD NOT be given a position in the Treasury or CBSL due to the conflict of interest of Perpetual Treasuries being the most significant Primary Dealer even then. On January 16^th Arjun Aloysius the former Governor’s son in law, resigned his directorship of Perpetual Treasuries, to cover this shortcoming, however it still would NOT pass the test “for justice to have been seen to be done.”

If the Prime Minister is to be faulted, it is on this point that he erred, which time has proved to have been a colossal error of judgment for which he has already paid a heavy price in the Court of Public Opinion. Let me at the same breadth report that the Prime Minister firmly believes, as he did then, that auctions were the best way to go forward in the issuance of Bonds, where the market chooses the rate, and the fact that other Primary Dealers had not bid in sufficient quantity is what resulted in Perpetual being allocated such a large offering at the high rate that resulted.

Let me add that as it was the first of these auctions on the new basis, the equilibrium interest rate had NOT yet been determined at that time, and though it seemed higher initially, the rate settled from thereon. Perpetual merely took advantage of the lack of interest amongst the other Primary Dealers, to bid at the rates they did, and at the final call it would be the CBSL right to accept or deny these bids, which they accepted.

It is for the Court to determine, if Mahendran had any say in the rate, and amount of bids to be accepted, and if so, whether that amounts to collusion, or error of judgment in hindsight, as Mahendran cannot be found guilty of having personally enriched himself from this transaction, by any stretch of the imagination. This is where COPE HAS NOT looked into the possibility of any collusion or passing of information by any senior member of the CBSL, who may in reality be the source of this problem or SCANDAL in the first place. Hiding under the cloak of Government Servants, these people who were suspected of acting in concert with Nivard Cabral, are still in senior positions of the CBSL today. 

This is a REAL BOND SCANDAL and seems to have escaped the cretins also known as the Columbian Performing Pontificating Pundits, like Chandra Jayaratne, if I was to name one who is respected, reported upon and used as evidence by the literaaty or a person, who knows what he is talking about, but who either out of senility or envy, has grossly missed the point! 

Can we then expect any more from the Media, Parliamentarians, and the General Public?

I would seriously appreciate a differing point of view on this as it goes to the heart of our Sri Lankan disease, which prevents true GOOD GOVERNANCE, not Chandra Jayaratne's Hallucinating Dreams, from being embraced by one and all. My desire is for true Government of the People by the People, for the People and we somehow seem to have lost it in translation here.

Think about it, it is like a conspiracy of the Government and all opposition parties to hang all their rhetoric on this SINGLE ISSUE at the expense of Gross Abuse of power, Corruption, and mismanagement that continues unabated, and thereby FOOL THE PUBLIC into believing that this is a huge scandal, because it is easy to convince where (so called) eminent persons have for reasons unknown been able to be roped into the same frame of mind.