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Economic crisis: Prorogation cancels COPE probe 

31 Jul 2022

  • Jayasundera, Cabraal, Attygalle and former officials summoned 
  • New and competent COPE urgently needed: Prof. Herath 
By Asiri Fernando Plans for the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) to summon a number of public officials following a report by the Auditor General has been abruptly nullified by the prorogation of the Parliament last week, The Sunday Morning learns. Speaking to The Sunday Morning, former COPE Chairman Prof. Charitha Herath said the Committee had last week planned to summon former public officials – including former Treasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle, former Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, former Secretary to the President Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, and former members of the Monetary Board – based on the findings of the Auditor General’s Special Audit Report on Financial Management and Public Debt Control in Sri Lanka 2018-2022. “We had planned to summon these members to know what had happened and to provide a special report to Parliament as soon as possible. But then Parliament was prorogued and all these plans were halted. Now we should ensure that people who are capable and credible are appointed to the new COPE to carry forward this process as soon as Parliament is reconvened,” Prof. Herath stated. He opined that committees like COPE had worked hard to bring to light malpractices and corruption and had been gaining the confidence of the public, adding that to appoint unsuitable persons to ranks of the committee would only cause a loss of credibility. He further stated that the COPE had also planned to summon the current and past members of the Monetary Board as well as the current CBSL Governor and senior officials from the Treasury before the Committee to answer “some serious questions” regarding the Auditor General’s report.  


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