Members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) addressing the media after the tense situation in Parliament yesterday said the President will keep to his word and make the Bond Commission report public.
The Prime Minister had requested that the Speaker convene Parliament yesterday without having a report in hand to debate, they said. This has been done on the advice of the Attorney General. Special Assignments Minister, Dr. Sarath Amunugama together with Finance and Mass Media Deputy Minister, Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Science, Technology and Research State Minister, Lakshman Senewiratne and Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala stressed that the report was not tabled in Parliament yesterday because there was not enough time given to the President to follow due procedure.
Minister Amunugama further said the President had received a letter from the Speaker at 4pm on Tuesday (9) asking whether it was possible to table the Bond Commission in Parliament yesterday (10).
“Today people have shed blood over a report they have not seen or read”, Minister Amunugama said.
Co-cabinet Spokesperson, Minister Rajitha Senaratne yesterday also informed the Cabinet media briefing held at Parliament that a Commission report has to be translated into all three languages and receive Cabinet approval to be made public, before it can be tabled in Parliament, “It is not possible to translate a 1457 page report in a few days. It took four months to translate the LLRC report alone”, he said.
At the SLFP media briefing, Minister Amunugama said, “However we commend the President to having agreed to submit the report to Parliament within a week. The Bond Commission has acted in a transparent manner that was not seen before and the President set great precedence by releasing the findings of the Commission through a state address, within a week of the report being handed to him”.
The next step he said was for the Attorney General to prepare and file an indictment against all those who are responsible.
Deputy Minister Alagiyawanna in the meantime stated that certain individuals and parties were carrying false propaganda against the report, “Many people have asked why action is not being taken immediately and why no one is arrested. But we say that those who say this either do not understand the complexity of the issue or they are trying to score petty political points”.