THE “DISTILLED EVIDENCE ” OF THE STATE BANKS
AT THE BOND COMMISSION
The fact that the former Minister of Finance summoned the Chairmen, General Managers and some executives of the three state owned banks on two consecutive occasions, just prior to the two controversial Bond issues of 27th February 2015, and March 29 & 31, 2016 and had, in the presence of Treasury Advisor Paskaralingam and Deputy Governor Samarasiri, given certain verbal directions to follow, has now been established by evidence under oath, as recorded in the Commission.
It is also recorded that, the Bank officials having followed the Finance Minister’s instructions to them on the 1st occasion, had protested at the 2nd meeting with the Minister, that the carrying out of his earlier instructions had resulted in the deprivation of their due profits, as outside bidders, offering higher rates, had secured huge profits. These Bank witnesses also confirmed, that the Minister had allayed their fears assuring that outside bidders will not be permitted this time, to bid at higher rates and to carry out his instructions. The Bank witnesses confirmed, that at the subsequent auctions, there was a repeat performance of the 1st , where Perpetual Treasuries Ltd., had secured the largest ever profit and to the detriment of the state banks.
These revelations have shocked the Nation and the Bond Scam Vigilantes, who are watching the scene with hawk eyes.
What is most interesting in the line of questioning, of these special witnesses by the senior lawyers in the Attorney General’s Department, at the Bond Commission, is that the questioning had been fully confined to establishing the role of the Finance Minister in this particular episode. Not a single embarrassing question or stray remark has been posed to these witnesses that could incriminate them in any way, for executing the verbal orders of the Finance Minister. There was not even a question whether verbal orders of the Minister had been carried out previously or generally.
This reflects, the tightly disciplined approach and the singular motive of the Counsel to establish only the culpability of the Minister in this matter and nothing else. The Bank officials have been treated most tenderly, and with kid gloves.
The “show” put up by the three Chairmen who are all political appointees of Ravi Karunanayake and Kabir Hashim, who have absolute by no professional knowledge of the intricacies of banking and the other executives of the Bank, at the Bond Commission, was obviously a well rehearsed, well-orchestrated public performance on their part, and the “spilling of the beans” has been obviously centrally directed. The perplexing, million dollar question that arises is, “at this stage, WHO gave this “new instruction” to this banking team, to put up this “show?”.
The legal aspect whether the Minister of Finance has authority to give such orders verbally at a common meeting, to carry out specific procedures in regard to business transactions, is a matter that needs probing. The other aspect of, whether bank executives should carry out procedures intrinsically detrimental to the business interests of the Banks and when confronted with such a situation, it would have been more prudent to report the matter to some other or higher authority before carrying out the controversial procedure, are matters that need to be clarified. These matters pertain to the personal accountability of each executive.
Another matter of legal consequence, for these executives is, when there was a public inquiryng by a parliamentary body like the COPE Committee, why didn’t these officials reveal the truthful position, and this tantamount to withholding vital evidence within their knowledge and thereby had contributed to misleading the COPE Committee, by their silence on the matter.
The COPE Committee, though not an organ of the Courts system, has sufficient legal teeth to recommend to parliament and through parliament to cause the Attorney General to institute judicial procedures against these witnesses.
On this matter, the Bank officials are now in a double bind. They have carried out unlawful orders of the Finance Minister and had also suppressed vital evidence to the COPE Committee. They are “particeps criminis” participants in a crime. And the crime is, against the Nation and its people.
Close upon the heels of the “Sil Redi” scandal which evoked interesting public debate in regard to “illegal orders” of politicians, where some claimed “this is now standard practice in Sri Lanka”, the attitude of the Courts, which is vital in such matters and not opinions of sections of the public, is reflected in the punishments meted out to the accused, who were both highly placed officials of the state. The heaviness of the punishments imposed, has stunned the Nation which is long used to witnessing immunity enjoyed by political elements in power. The law enforcing Courts have displayed at least in this instance, its intolerance of political acts which are illegal.
But, Sri Lanka is a strange country. Inconsistencies in legal decisions and also attitudes of Courts abound, and the release of these accused persons, within days, on bail, on an obnoxious loophole of “special reasons for bail” has dampened the sprits of, and disheartened, the public, now yearning and clamouring, for the upholding of the Rule of Law. The punishment given by one hand, has been vitiated by the other hand, giving bail to non-bailable offences, “on special considerations.” This makes the judicial system, a mockery and a farce.
The personalities involved in these dramas are all well-dressed, english speaking, hard core criminals, who control the upper echelons of the Sri Lankan society. The society is actually saturated with such hard core, well seasoned, unrepentant criminals so much that, cleaning up public life of corruption, fraud and such national crimes is well nigh an impossible task. There are momentary thrills, like when the “Sil Redi” judgment was delivered. And then, the society goes back to their daily indulgences in silence, and public vigilance is not maintained.
The orchestrated “confession” by the state – bank executives is only a glimpse of the manner in which these banks are administered. The corruption involving the state-banks is so massive and expansive that one cannot deal with the topic, summarily. For decades, the state-banks have been used by successive governments to fund, legal as well as non-business political projects. Politically enforced lending, that immediately ends up in the non-performing category, has been endemic. State banks are not permitted to take business decisions independently and its administrations are rotting with political interferences in expensive procurements and also staff recruitment, promotions and disciplinary actions in regard to about 20,000 employees, who are in permanent service.
Only a few people would observe that there is a total blackout by all media on the illegal, immoral, and criminal activities of those who administer the state-banks. All media institutions, and media personnel are being continuously bribed, to shut out any focus on massive frauds, corruption and also, suppression of human and worker rights that are taking place in these banks. Advertising, public relations, Corporate Social Responsibility projects, are worth several billions of rupees per each year and part of these funds are diverted as bribes to media institutions and media personnel. The public will NEVER come to know, what actually goes on inside the state banks, due to this total media black out.
The obvious question is, what are the employees doing? What are the Trade Unions doing?
Our short, short, truthful answer is, Nothing!
OUR NEXT ESSAY
- The Criminal Record of the General Manager, People’s Bank.
- Involvement of CBEU leaders in corruption and fraud.
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