Attorney General Dappula De Livera directed acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) C. D. Wickramaratne to record statements from all suspects including former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake and Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) beneficiary owner Arjun Aloysius over the Central Bank bond scam.
The Attorney General further ordered the Acting IGP to submit those statements to him before July 25. The Attorney General’s coordinating officer State
Counsel Nishara Jayaratne said the Attorney General made this order after considering the interim order issued by the Court of Appeal (CA) pursuant to the writ petition filed by Ravi Karunanayake and six others on July 7.
According to the interim order issued by the CA, it is only staying the operation of arrest warrants issued by the Colombo Fort Magistrate against all suspects over the Central Bank bond scam and there is no impediment to any investigations including statements to be made.
The Interim Order further observed that there was no impediment to record statements from the suspects and the Magistrate can make any order to assist the investigation officers regarding the ongoing investigation except for the arrest of the suspect, she said.
Accordingly, the Attorney General directed Acting IGP to record statements from the suspects without delay.
The Attorney General in a letter dated March 2 named Former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, Former Central Bank Governor Arjun Mahendran, Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL), its beneficiary Arjun Aloysius, PTL Chief Dealer Kasun Palisena, PTL chairman Geoffrey Joseph Aloysius, Chitta Ranjan Hulugalle, Muthuraja Surendran, Ajahn Gardiya Punchihewa, Buddika Sarathchandra, Indika Saman Kumara and Sangarapille Padumanadan as suspects on charges of conspiracy, criminal misappropriation, cheating and market manipulation in respect of the bond auctions of March, 2016 and AG instructed the Acting IGP to obtain arrest warrants from relevant Magistrate’s Court to arrest suspect.
The Attorney General has charged all suspects with conspiracy to commit criminal misappropriation in respect of Treasury bonds to the face value of Rs.36.98 billion and Rs.15 billion respectively in March, 2016.
Following the AG’s order, the case was taken before the Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake on March 4 and the Magistrate imposed a travel ban against all suspects.
Also, on March 6, Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake had issued warrants for ten suspects stating that there was not enough evidence to proceed with the case against Buddhika Sarathchandra and that he would not be named as a suspect.
The magistrate had on that day ordered that a notice be issued as the first suspect; Perpetual Treasuries Limited in the case could not issue a warrant to the company.
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