Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

16 November  2020

 

 

 

CB Bond Problem & US Fixer Karma

The Parliamentary Opposition in Sri Lanka is reported to have questioned the legality of Appropriation Bill 2020. As per Ceylon Today report:

[Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna District MP M.A. Sumanthiran meanwhile, questioned the legality of the Appropriation Bill for 2020 presented to Parliament, alleging that it was a Bill intended to cover up various illegalities that had been perpetrated in this country……….

He said that an Appropriation Bill must be debated and approved prior to the financial year for which it applies and it was only then the Executive obtained the approval of Parliament to draw from the Consolidated Fund, borrow and generally administer the finances of the country.

“Article 148 of the Constitution very clearly says that the Parliament will have full control over public finance. No tax rate or any other levy will be imposed by any local authority or any other public authority except by or under the authority of law passed by Parliament or of any existing law. So there is no law until now passed for the financial year 2020 that the Parliament has approved. What was approved, were certain resolutions under A.150 sub A.2. Those resolutions do not permit levying of taxes or borrowing by the Government,” the TNA MP said.]

 

There is karma in regards to this, that is yet to be addressed including by the Opposition SJB which was part of the Central Bank’s Bonds problem. Earlier this year, Colombo Page reported as follows:

 

[Jan 21, Colombo: The Speaker of Sri Lanka parliament Karu Jayasuriya has tabled the forensic audit reports on the Central Bank bond transactions in parliament making them available to the Members of Parliament, the Communication Department of parliament announced.

In a statement issued by the Speaker’s Media Office, the Speaker said he intends to inform Parliament of his decision to table the forensic audit reports in the House.

The Speaker said considering the repeated requests made by many MPs in and out of the House on January 03, 2020 and during the meeting with party leaders and representatives of political parties on January 13, 2020, he has decided to table the forensic audit reports that was received by the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) during the previous session of parliament.

The Speaker has taken steps not to issue them to parliamentarians on the advice of the Attorney General.

The forensic audits were initiated by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on the recommendation of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to examine, investigate and report on Treasury Bonds issued from 01 February 2015 to 31 March 2016.]

 

Daily FT reported in this regard:

[There is one person in this country who is very disturbed by the forensic audit reports on the bond issues and raising of public debt by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, tabled in Parliament on 21 January 2020 and that person is none other than Ajith Nivard Cabraal, former Governor of the Central Bank and one-time President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Chartered Accountants.]

 

Mr Cabraal is  State Minister of Money & Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms in the current government.  Mr Cabraal’s role in the then government ‘interfering’ with the American system keeps coming back to haunt him. Even though the Opposition seems to have ‘forgotten’ previous karma by this government, American officials have been confirmed as the media of karmic manifestation in relation to Sri Lankan Government. Sunday Times reports under the heading – ‘US fixer faces jail term upto 13 years; charges include pocketing US$5.6mn from Lanka’ :

 

[The Sunday Times first exclusively exposed in July 2014 that the then Mahinda Rajapaksa Government had engaged Mr Zuberi, who purported to be a lobbyist. The payments were so covertly done that neither  the Cabinet nor Parliament knew.

And they were made through the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) to evade oversight from either. Current State Minister Nivard Cabraal was the CBSL Governor at the time….

The Sunday Times repeatedly questioned the manner in which billions of rupees were being funnelled into public relations firms and lobby groups, particularly in 2014. At any given time between 2008 and the end of 2014—more than six years—Sri Lanka’s mission in Washington, the Office of the Monitoring Member of Parliament (MMP) for the Ministry of External Affairs or the CBSL had on their payroll numerous lobbyists and public relations companies.]

The opening paragraph confirms the purpose as follows:

[Federal prosecutors filing in the US District Court this week have asked a judge to sentence American fixer and venture capitalist Imaad Zuberi to between 10 and 13 years in prison for an array of crimes, including pocketing US$ 5.6mn that Sri Lanka paid him in 2014 to improve the country’s image after its victory against the LTTE]

Given that the Tamil community as a whole has been painted with the Terrorism brush, it is the duty of  Tamil representatives in National Parliament to call for a Forensic Audit of the Central Bank for the said period. Mr Cabraal as a Chartered Accountant has the duty to his profession to examine himself through the Audit standards expected of Chartered Accountants.

 

During this period – two Rajapaksa brothers were American citizens. The public need to know whether they played any role in this.

 

Members of Parliament have the authority and the duty to raise belief based questions on behalf of their constituencies. They ought not to expect to win. When they raise such issues in Parliament – they facilitate citizens to pool their own Belief based Energies – so that the Universality of that Energy would spread itself. One who expects to win or fears losing does not have that plenary power. Minorities who are discriminated against and unjustly demoted have this power through the system of Truth.