Lawyer says he can’t represent PTL anymore

 Bond Scams Probe:

CEO ordered deletion of call data 

Computer hard disk destroyed

By Shyam Nuwan Ganewatta and Sarath Dharmasena-September 4, 2017, 12:00 pm 

In a surprise turn of events, senior attorney for Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL), President’s Counsel Nihal Fernando, yesterday told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, probing the alleged bond scams, that he could no longer appear for the company as what had been committed by Perpetual Treasuries constituted a criminal offence. He said so following the revelation, before the Commission, that vital data had been deleted from the computers of Perpetual Treasuries.

Fernando said he would make a special statement before the commission tomorrow.

Counsel Fernando said that he had instructed his client to provide all information to the Commission and that he was not aware of deletion of data from the computers of Perpetual Treasuries. He said he would make a statement to the Commission soon.

At this juncture, Senior Additional Solicitor General, Dappula de Livera, told Fernando that he should inform the Commission of his position.

Meanwhile, Chief Dealer of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd, Nuwan Thilina Salgado, admitted that he had been instructed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Company Kasun Palisena to delete the data containing the recorded incoming and outgoing telephone calls of the company.

He revealed the information to the Commission swearing on the Bible, when Additional Solicitor General Yasantha Kodagoda PC requested him to do so.

Witness Salgado said that though the Commission had been informed that the first computer, sold to Perpetual Treasuries by Metropolitan Communications had malfunctioned, actually its hard disk had crashed. All the data pertaining to the telephone call recordings Perpetual Treasuries were in that particular hard disk.

Salgado admitted that the decision to destroy the hard disk had been taken by him along with Chief IT Officer Sachith Devathanthri and CEO Kasun Palisena.

Salgado said the hard disk had been destroyed by Devathanthri and he (Salgado) believed that Arjuna Aloysius was aware of it.

Answering questions raised by the Chairman of the Commission Supreme Court Justice K. T. Chithrasiri, Salgado said that though Palisena had ordered the destruction of the hard disk, it was he (Salgado) who decided on which calls needed to be deleted after listening to them.

Salgado said that Palisena had instructed him to listen to the telephone calls and delete those which were harmful to the company and Palisena.

The witness said that he had deleted more than 100 calls and provided doctored information to the Commission and he, therefore, apologized to the Commission for what he had done.

Asked by Commission member Justice Prasanna Jayewardene whether Arjun Aloysius had been in the know of the destruction of the computer, Salgado said it was possible.

Justice Jaywardena wanted to know who the decision maker of Perpetual Treasuries was. Salgado said Palisena made decisions, which were intimated to Aloysius. Asked by Justice Jaywardena whether Palisena had to carry out Aloysius’ orders, Salgado answered in the affirmative.

Salgado remained silent when Justice Jaywardena asked him whether the final decision maker was Aloysius. The latter said the witness was under oath and therefore had to answer the question put to him.

Justice Jaywardena asked whether it was correct to say Aloysius and Palisena collectively made decision, Salgado answered in the affirmative.

He said that he had given instructions to Sachith Devathanthri to delete the data, pertaining to the telephone calls that were deleted on the instructions of Kasun Palisena and not because he wanted to do so.

When Commission member Justice Prasanna Jayawardena asked Salgado if Perpetual Treasuries were not at fault there was no need to delete the data of telephone calls, the witness answered in the affirmative.

When the name of Gajan Devaraja’s name was mentioned as one of those who had taken calls for Perpetual Treasuries and he was seated in the Commission during the sittings, the Commission ordered him to leave the chamber immediately.

At the commencement of the proceedings, the overnight witness, Sachith Devatantri, admitted that he had stated some false statements under the oath before the commission. He said he had destroyed the computers.

Devatanthri said he had not destroyed a computer before and he had learned how to do it by watching two You Tube videos which showed how to destroy a hard disk. He said he had told others it was no point in destroying the hard disk because the required data could be retrieved. Kasun Palisena and Nuwan Salgado had asked him to go ahead.

The commission marked four CDs containing unedited call recordings of Perpetual Treasures, which had been handed over to the investigative unit of the commission by Salgado. Devatantri in his evidence told the commission previously the CDs were in the possession of Salgado.

The Commission resumes sittings tomorrow at 10.00 a.m.