President Maithripala Sirisena may remove Foreign Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake if he does not resign over revelations uncovered by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the bond scam, State Minister of Public Enterprise Development Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said.
He said President Sirisena is likely to take a decision on Karunanayake within the next two weeks. “If found innocent, he can always come back.”
Asked if the ruling party would vote in favour of the no-confidence motion, he said that SLFP members may vote in favour of it.
He recalled that when a Secretary complained that there was fraud with regard to a fertilizer tender to former President J. R. Jayawardene, the then Agriculture Minister E. L. Senanayake resigned honorably even before revelations were made.
He said that the credit of the whole issue should go to the President as he removed former Governor Central Bank Arjuna Mahendran within 48 hours after the bond scam revelation and it was followed up by the appointment of a Presidential Commission.
“We must also say that it the first time in the history of Sri Lankan politics that a ruling party minister is being questioned directly at a Presidential Commission and this is a result of the two party coalition ruling the country. If there was a single party government, a ruling party minister would never have been questioned by the AG’s Department in a commission.”
“The Commission of Inquiry has exposed how politicians behave and this is a good lesson for politicians to be honorable,” he said.