• Losses mostly between 2010 and 2012
• Several leading companies included
• Former Governor named 28 times

By The Sunday Morning News Desk The forensic audit (FA) reports of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) have named a total of 19 companies that have allegedly caused losses to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) through “pump and dump” schemes. According to the report, these investments have taken place mostly between 2010 and 2012 and include some of the largest corporate entities in the country. The total losses from these transactions have been calculated to be at least Rs. 9 billion. These startling revelations are contained in one of the five reports which were commissioned by the CBSL. The EPF has a fund of Rs. 2.3 trillion which annually receives Rs. 12 billion interest income. It consists of 18 million contributors or employees and 85,000 employers. Former CBSL Deputy Governor Dr. W.A. Wijewardena told The Sunday Morning that the Monetary Board at the time as a whole was collectively responsible for any irregularity in EPF investments and that it could not be pinned on one individual. Our sources indicated that the name of Former Governor of the CBSL Ajith Nivard Cabraal, who served in the position from July 2006 to January 2015, has been mentioned in the report a total of 28 times. However, Cabraal on Friday (3) questioned the validity of these FA reports, saying the Auditor General should have overseen the forensic auditing process. “How can the Central Bank overlook the audits if it is the entity under question? There is conflict of interest here,” Cabraal pointed out. He was speaking to reporters following the launch of his book on the 2015 Central Bank Bond Scam. Cabraal further noted that his book revealed the actual loss to the CBSL from the 2015 Bond Scam. The FA reports, which have been compiled by leading international audit firms such as KPMG and BDO, were handed over to the CBSL in early November 2019. They were completed at a cost of Rs. 900 million. They were commissioned upon the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) to investigate the issuance of Treasury Bonds during the period of 1 February 2015 to 31 March 2016. The PCoI was set up by former President Maithripala Sirisena in order to probe the Rs. 11 billion Central Bank Treasury Bond Scam of February 2015. Upon receipt of the reports, the Monetary Board of the Central Bank sought the opinion of the Attorney General (AG) as to whether they should be made public. The AG opined that the findings in the reports have the potential to be evidence in investigations and legal actions and therefore, access should be limited to those who have statutory authority to access them, while emphasising that the recipients maintain confidentiality. The AG further informed the Central Bank that once the reports and related documents have been fully considered, any extracts which could be disseminated in the public domain without prejudice to investigations or litigation will be notified to the Central Bank. The reports have since been veiled in a cloak of secrecy for two months and extracts have not been put on the public domain either as specified by the AG. On the inauguration day of the fourth session of the eighth Parliament on Friday (3), the Opposition, including MPs Dr. Harsha De Silva, Ravi Karunanayake, and Ajith P. Perera, urged Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to table the reports of the FA. De Silva said that as the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) had been dissolved with the prorogation of Parliament, the Speaker should table the reports till the new COPE committee is appointed.