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‘Payments were made on instructions of the Govt.’

05 May 2022

  • Cabraal responds to Anura Kumara’s allegations
  • Says payments made to Pakistani-American political donor were made on written official instructions
    Former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, in response to the allegations levelled by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) Leader MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake, has said the payments made to Pakistani-American political donor Imaad Zuberi had been made on official written instructions of the Government, and not on “the wishes of a single person”.  Earlier on Tuesday (3), at a media briefing convened to expose past corrupt deals of Sri Lankan politicians, MP Dissanayake alleged that Cabraal had wired $ 6.5 million in total to Zuberi in 2014 to rehabilitate Sri Lanka’s image in the US. Zuberi was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a US court for lobbying and campaign contribution crimes, tax evasion, and obstruction of justice. According to the US State Department, Zuberi had been tasked in 2014 to rehabilitate Sri Lanka’s image in the US, which had suffered because of allegations that its minority Tamil population had been persecuted. A press release issued by the State Department last year read that Zuberi had promised to make substantial expenditures on lobbying efforts, legal expenses, and media buys, which prompted Sri Lanka to agree to pay Zuberi a total of $ 8.5 million over the course of six months in 2014.  “Days after Sri Lanka made an initial payment of $ 3.5 million, Zuberi transferred $ 1.6 million into his personal brokerage accounts and used another $ 1.5 million to purchase real estate,” it stated. Pursuant to the contract, Zuberi had received $ 6.5 million in total from Sri Lanka. In his statement, Cabraal said: “As the banker to the Government, the payments made by the Central Bank on behalf of the Government in 2014 have been made on the official written instructions of the Government, and not on the wishes of a single person.” He noted that such payments included those made to Imaad Zuberi and his organisations that were engaged by the Government in respect of communication programmes in the US. “In that regard, it must be stated that all payments on behalf of the Government had been made based on the official written instructions and approval of the relevant government authorities.” Further, the respective payment protocols and procedures had been followed by the Central Bank in the normal course of business when making these payments, Cabraal explained. The former Central Bank Governor reiterated that there had been no procedural or other violation by the Central Bank in making the payments totalling $ 6.5 million to Zuberi and his organisations on behalf of the Government. “Nevertheless, as it is now observed, there are certain groups of politically motivated persons who have been alleging that these payments have been made by me personally in a fraudulent manner, thereby causing a loss to the country,” stated Cabraal. He pointed out that these same groups had these transactions investigated in detail for five years from 2015 to 2019, and after doing so, it had not been possible to point out any lapses or violations of any law on his part. “As a result, no action was instituted against me by any law enforcement authority during that period of five years. Nevertheless, these politically motivated groups have once again begun to hurl false allegations against me in order to tarnish my reputation and provoke public hatred upon me.” While vehemently denying those allegations, Cabraal stated that I would respond to what he called “despicable actions” through the legal process and also institute action against the “perpetrators of these falsehoods” at the appropriate time in order to hold them accountable for their abusive actions.


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