SL amnesty for Sri Lankans (even Rajapaksa) to bring back Swiss bank monies

The Sri Lankan Government on Friday offered an amnesty to Sri Lankans holding ‘secret numbered’ accounts totaling $10-15 billion in Swiss banks saying they could bring their money back with no questions asked and no names revealed. “Even if former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has money in Swiss banks, he can bring it back with no-questions-asked,” said Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake at a hurriedly-called media briefing on Friday evening. He said the offer is being made after the Swiss Government said it was asking all foreign-held accounts to close under new laws there. There will be no disclosures of the return of their funds which can be transferred from Swiss banks to local commercial banks. He didn’t disclose the number of accounts. “My immediate target is to encourage Sri Lankan expatriates to transfer $3-6 million in the next few months,” he told reporters and said the the same no-questions-asked facility is also available for Indian nationals who wished to remove their cash in Swiss bank accounts.  (Bandula)