Former Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera, who was cleared by the Supreme Court on Thursday to return to public office, is being considered for another position in government, and won't return to the Treasury as earlier expected, highly-placed government sources said.
They said Treasury Secretary Sumith Abeysinghe had been given another one year extension while Dr. Jayasundera is likely to be appointed Cabinet Secretary, a position currently held by D. Wijesinghe, a senior public servant.
While the Cabinet Secretary's position now is not influential, it was a powerful post when it was held by G.V.P. Samarasinghe during the UNP regimes.
Dr. Jayasundera had in a Supreme Court affidavit, which was accepted, sought to withdraw an earlier affidavit to court saying he would not accept any public office after the court was critical of his role in the Lanka Marine Services Ltd privatization.
In the second affidavit, he said President Mahinda Rajapaksa had requested him to return as Treasury and Finance Ministry Secretary to serve in the national interest.
The sources said it was unclear as to when Mr. Abeysinghe's extension took effect but was believed to have been given before Thursday's SC ruling on Dr Jayasundera's application.
In the meantime, the same sources said the government had decided to hold a vote-on-account instead of the budget in view of impending elections and a new parliament plus a new cabinet in the next six months.
"There has been discussion over whether it should be a vote-on-account or a budget, and now a decision has been made," one source said.
Asked whether this would run counter to the IMF $2.6 billion standby facility where the government has set targets including budget deficits, the source said, "No, what we need to provide under these targets are set deficits for the calendar year.” |
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