AG advises not to release forensic audit on Central Bank bond scam

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya informed Parliament today (7) that the Attorney General has advised against releasing the forensic audit report on the Central Bank bond scam to all MPs.

By Sandun Jayawardana

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya informed Parliament today (7) that the Attorney General has advised against releasing the forensic audit report on the Central Bank bond scam to all MPs.

At the commencement of proceedings today, the Speaker told MPs that he had sought an opinion from the AG on releasing the report to MPs as per requests made in Parliament in January 3 by some Parliamentarians from the Government and Opposition to table the investigation report.

“The AG has informed me that some cases have already been filed in court in connection with the Central Bank bond scam while several more cases are due to be filed. As such, he has advised that it is currently not appropriate to release the report to MPs,” he announced.

However, JVP MP Bimal Rathnayake stated that Parliament was not bound to follow instructions from the AG. He noted that Parliament is not even bound to follow directions from the Supreme Court and that there are precedents throughout history for this.

“Rs 900 million was spent to compile this report. The public have a right to know. The AG has a right to express an opinion and we respect that, but we are not bound to act according to that. The report can still be tabled,” he insisted.

Speaker Jayasuriya said he too wanted the report to be tabled as soon as possible and would discuss the matter with the AG again.