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CB tells Aloysius companies to disclose payments made from 33 banks
View(s):The Central Bank has called upon four companies at the centre of the bond scam to disclose payments made to different persons from accounts they held in 33 commercial banks. It follows a Court order to this effect and is expected to lay bare the names of more recipients of money from the companies–Perpetual Treasuries Ltd, Perpetual Asset Management (Pvt) Ltd, Perpetual Capital Holdings (Pvt) Ltd and W M Mendis & Co Ltd–associated with Arjun Aloysius. The parties were noticed to give the Central Bank Governor electronic copies of all cheques issued and realised from such accounts between January 2015 and May 2018. International Trade State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe received a total of Rs 3mn in 2015 and 2016 from the Bank of Ceylon (BoC) corporate branch account of W M Mendis through three separate cheques, it was revealed before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court this week.
The CID report also said the three cheques totaling Rs 3.21mn drawn from W M Mendis’s account at the BOC corporate branch in January, April and May 2016 were cashed to settle personal expenses on the former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran’s official credit card.
The first cheque for Rs 1mn issued to Minister Senasinghe was dated August 24, 2015. He handed it over to Ministerial Security Division (MSD) Sub Inspector E G Priyantha Vipula Sampath who cashed it at the BOC Lake View branch. He gave the money to Minister Senasinghe.
Minister Senasinghe’s campaign manager Amal Ravindranath Dias gave the second Rs 1mn cheque to Police Sergeant W M Ranjith Lal Jayasena who cashed it at the BoC headquarters. The money was then handed over to Mr Dias.
Mr Dias gave a third cheque of Rs 1mn to MSD Police Constable B.R. Gunasena. He realised it at the BoC headquarters before giving the money to Mr Dias, who coordinated the election campaign and Minister Senasinghe’s financial transactions. He told the CID Rs 2mn was spent on November 13, 2015, and April 5, 2016, on the Minister’s election campaigns. The money was neither deposited nor recorded in books.
The campaign manager claimed in his statement that he did not know how the cheques were received. There were, however, no elections between November 13, 2015, and April 5, 2016, the CID’s report to Court said. Therefore, Mr Dias was directed to appear before the CID this week but excused himself citing official duties. CID officers dispatched to his house found it locked up and there was no response from his mobile phone.
Yesterday, in response to a request for a comment, Minister Senasinghe forwarded the Sunday Times a recording of a media statement he delivered this week. He claimed the money had been paid to friends handling the election campaign and that the dates on the relevant cheques made it clear the money went towards his election efforts.
The cheques were issued after the polls, Minister Senasinghe said, because it was the practice of companies that donated towards campaigns to send the money a few months later. Sometimes, they did not pay at all. His main role as a candidate during these elections was to organise campaign meetings. Other aspects, such as finances, were handled directly by a friend volunteer.
Neither he nor his campaign staff had any idea in 2015 that Mendis & Co was affiliated to PTL: “I had no idea who owned it. I also didn’t know about these cheques as they were accepted and cashed by my campaign team. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have allowed my campaign team to let our names be dragged through the mud by accepting such donations.”
But Minister Senasinghe insisted nothing illegal had transpired. It was the standard practice for politicians to accept donations during elections and there was ample proof the cheques were for his campaign and not for personal use.
Minister Senasinghe was also forced to defend himself last year when it emerged during proceedings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Treasury Bond Issuance that he had exchanged telephone calls with Mr Aloysius while sitting on the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprise (COPE) which was probing the same issue. He claimed he had only contacted Mr Aloysius to get information for a book he was writing on the subject.
At a news conference in November, he challenged the CID to find any “deal” he and Mr Aloysius had entered into. He was quoted as saying: “I am a lawyer with a good understanding of criminal law. If I really wanted to fix a deal with Aloysius, do you think I would have used my phone to do so. I could have used somebody else’s phone. Of these said 30 or 40 alleged calls that I have made to Aloysius, I challenge the CID to find out a single conversation between us on any so called deal.”
Meanwhile, the CID’s report to Court said the three cheques totaling Rs 3.21mn drawn from W M Mendis’s account at the BOC corporate branch in January, April and May 2016 were handed over by Amila Dahanayake– the Secretary of the then Governor of the Central Bank Lakshman Arjuna Mahendran–to office assistant Ilukwatta Gamage Roshan.
He cashed them at the BOC corporate branch and the money given back to Ms Dahanayake. She told the CID she was tasked with separating private expenditure from official expenditure on Mr Mahendran’s credit card; and settling private expenditure through the cheques the former Governor had given her.
Ms Dahanayake said she did not know from which account the cheques had been issued. She gave them to one or the other of two employees in the Governor’s office, not Mr Sanjeewa, she maintained. Mr Sanjeewa’s statement said, however, that the three cheques were given by Ms Dahanayake to be cashed; and that the money was handed over to her on the same day.
The CID told Court that the four institutions–PTL, Perpetual Asset Management, Perpetual Capital Holdings and W M Mendis–were ordered to provide details of money remitted to third parties, and given to parties who had provided “sensitive and secret inside information, both directly and indirectly”.
Court was informed that documents aimed at having Mr Mahendran, the first suspect, extradited to Sri Lanka from Singapore were being drafted. Meanwhile, earlier information revealed to the effect that Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekera had received Rs 1mn from W M Mendis while he was Chief Minister of the North Western Province led to him being summoned to the CID headquarters this week for further questioning. He agreed to come on Monday.
The commercial and special banks that have been ordered to provide details of cheques are: Lankaputhra Development Bank Ltd; Regional Development Bank Ltd; Axis Bank Ltd; Pan Asia Banking Corporation PLC; Public Bank Berhad; Nations Trust Bank PLC; Hatton National Bank PLC; Sampath Bank PLC; National Development Bank PLC; DFCC Bank PLC; Seylan Bank PLC; Union Bank of Colombo PLC; State Bank of India; Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation; Bank of China Ltd; Indian Overseas Bank; MCB Bank Ltd; Standard Chartered Bank; People’s Bank; Bank of Ceylon; Sri Lanka Housing Development Finance Corporation Bank; ICICI Bank; Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC; Deutsche Bank AG; Amana Bank PLC; Habib Bank Ltd; Citi Bank NA; State Mortgage & Investment Bank; National Savings Bank; Cargills Bank Ltd; Sanasa Development Bank PLC; Sri Lanka Savings Bank Ltd; and Indian Bank.
PTL Director Aloysius and CEO Kasun Palisena are yet to comply with orders given in March 2018 to provide a statement of direct and indirect assets they hold in Sri Lanka and abroad. This must list liabilities, income and expenditure, including assets taking the form of properties in respect of which they have beneficial interest.
The Inland Revenue Commissioner General is yet to provide a report detailing all assets, liabilities, income and expenditure of PTL in keeping with an order issued early last month.