News
Parliamentary committee to recommend Batti Campus be brought under Eastern University
The Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Education & Human Resources Development (POC-EHRD) which is inquiring into the controversial Batticaloa Campus (Pvt) Ltd [BCPL], intends to recommend that the institution be taken over by the State-run Eastern University and brought under the purview of the University Grants Commission, MP Prof Ashu Marasinghe told the Sunday Times.
Prof. Marasinghe, is the Chairman of the Sub Committee (SC) appointed by POC-EHRD, to inquire into BCPL, which was constructed with a soft loan from a Saudi Arabian charity.
POC-EHRD Chairman, Minister Vadivel Suresh said the SC had visited the campus and would submit its report to the Parliament by the end of next week.
The SC has found several discrepancies with some of the agreements and documentation regarding the Saudi Charity and loan transfer. There are concerns that foreign currency regulations may have been violated when the loan was received into Sri Lankan bank accounts.
The SC is also set to recommend that the Financial Crimes Investigation Division and the Criminal Investigation Department look into the anomalies, Marasinghe claimed, pointing out that the conduct of some banks, in facilitating the loan, will also have to be scrutinised.
Questions have been raised on how a soft loan was received by a local account, which is, allegedly, not set up for loan repayment. “How did this money come into the country? How can a normal account receive a US$ loan worth millions? A foreign loan must be received by an account type where repayment is possible. This begs the question, what was this money intended for, if it was not planned to be repaid?” a parliamentary source who didn’t want to be named told the Sunday Times.
It is alleged that one document indicates that, in 2013, when the agreement was signed, Hizbullah signed as Chairman and MP. “How can a Parliamentarian enter into an agreement with a State entity?” the source questioned, pointing out that these anomalies need to be answered.
“The anomalies in how the loan was processed and the monies moved to local accounts, may be a sign of abuse of power of the Governor” he argued. “Some of the documentation from the Ali Al-Juffali Trust, which the SC has received, do not have matching addresses, with 4 documents having 4 different addresses,” the source claimed.
“We have obtained a US$ 24 million soft loan from ‘Ali Al-Juffali Trust’ in Saudi Arabia. These loans have been channelled through an account belonging to the Batticaloa campus at the Bank of Ceylon,” Eastern Province Governor M.L.A.M. Hizbullah told the Sunday Times, a few weeks back. “However, Gov. Hizbollah had first told the SC he had received grant from a Saudi charity, only to later inform them it was a soft loan,” the source said.
The Ministry of Higher Education, acting on a directive from the POC-EHRD, put on hold the administrative processing of the BCPL’s application seeking permission and accreditation to commence operations. Further, The Committee On Public Enterprises (COPE) is also investigating BCPL.
Minister Dr Harsha De Silva, speaking to the Sunday Times, said that the first round of investigations had raised several issues of concern and that, COPE had requested more information from the relevant stakeholders. “We are expediting the process,” he said.