ARJUN ALOYSIUS, A CONFIDANTE OF MR - DEPUTY MINISTER

Chameera Elladeniya-Thursday, February 1, 2018

Deputy Power and Energy Minister Ajith P Perera yesterday stressed that Perpetual Treasuries Director Arjun Aloysius who was involved in the Central Bank Bond issue, was a close confidante of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Perera told the press yesterday that Arjun Aloysius was not a member of United National Party and this person was allegedly involved in financial misappropriations during the previous regime too. A relative of former Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal was a Director of the Perpetual Treasuries during the previous regime, Perera said.

He added that the Presidential Commission of Inquiry that investigated the controversial Central Bank issue has not raised allegations against any member of the United National Party.

“The charge against former Minister Ravi Karunanayake is not related to the Central Bank Bond issue.No member of the UNP face charges over Central Bank bond issue though there are charges against Arjuna Mahendran and Arjuna Aloysius”, he said. The Deputy minister added that the Commission has upheld that the footnotes placed on the COPE Report are in compliance with the evidence.

Perera added that the government will institute legal action against the culprits under the Criminal Procedure Code and recover the loss to the government based on the recommendations of the Commission.

“The Commission to inquire and investigate the allegations of Bribery and Corruption will first intiate investigations into the incident before taking legal action against the culprits.

The Deputy Minister added that his party is ready to have a debate on the Presidential Commission reports before the Local Government election.“We have nothing to hide.That is why we took a decision to advance the parliamentary debate to February 6.

“We want to divulge who the rogues are.We want to divulge those who associate with the rogues even today”, he said.