Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Sri Lanka Foreign Minister says he 'knew nothing' of the apartment purchase


Wed, Aug 2, 2017

Lankapage LogoAug 02, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ravi Karunanayake Wednesday appeared before the Presidential Commission probing the Central Bank Treasury Bond Issue to answer questions regarding his involvement.

During the questioning, the former Finance Minister said he knew nothing about first leasing and later purchasing an apartment in Monarch Residencies in Colombo.
The Minister said the penthouse apartment in Monarch he and his family were residing in for nine months has been bought by the company of which his wife and eldest daughter are directors.

He added that he was unaware that the apartment was paid for by the Perpetual Treasuries (PT) Pvt. Limited owned by Arjun Aloysius.

He first learned of the apartment when he went to live there, the Minister said. He added that while he has a good family life, his wife and daughter do not disclose everything. He said had he known that Aloysius had paid for the apartment he wouldn't have lived there because of the 'conflict of interest'.
He said that Aloysius had paid cash through his company as the owner of the residence did not want to lease out the penthouse to a politician.

Minister Karunanayake, who appeared before the Commission on the third day of notifying him by the Commission, testified for over four hours. He apologized to the Commission for not being able to appear before the Commission on earlier occasions when he was called.

When the commission directed Minister Karunanayake's attention to mobile phone messages addressed to him as "honorable Ravi" and "RK" on the mobile phone of Arjun Aloysius, the Minister said he knew nothing about the messages.

Additional Solicitor General, President's Counsel Dapula de Livera, appearing for the prosecution produced evidence that Minister Karunanayake and Arjun Aloysius had traveled to Singapore 13 times within the same period and in one of those occasions the two had traveled together in the same plane.


However, the Minister said he remembers meeting with Arjun Aloysius only once in Singapore. The Minsiter said although he knew the Aloysius family since their grandfather's time, he doesn't have any personal or business relations with Arjun Aloysius.