President’s Counsel Upul Jayasuriya speaking at a public forum of the National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) made damning revelations that Entrust Securities PLC previously known as Ceylinco Shriram had misappropriated public funds amounting to Rs. 12 billion since 2013.
“There have been audit reports and an investigation by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) which stated that the company had unsound
practices and severe financial irregularties,” he said. “It is our request to this government and the President to whom the NMSJ had sent a written letter, that a Presidential commission be set up to investigate the colossal loss of public funds.”
PC Jayasuriya noted that this racket had been going on since 2013 and the management of the company had plundered deposits and investments made by the general public to the tune of Rs. 4500 million. “A sum of Rs. 2063 million belonging to the Central Bank and Rs. 2500 million invested by the Ceylon Electricity Board had gone missing,” he said.
“Does this not warrant an investigation, particularly since the management of the Central Bank was aware of misdealings of this company which was also a primary dealer (PD) appointed by CB to deal in government securities such as Treasury Bills.”
He further said that based on documents related to the financial mismanagement, the company Entrust Securities had gone on to donate a sum of Rs. 100 million to the Carlton Rugby Club and Rs. 500 million more as loans to various entities and individuals. “The owners of the company had misappropriated nearly Rs. 4 billion through other companies which were under their purview. Investigations should be extended to include individuals who had profited from the company and to ascertain if these monies are in Sri Lanka or some offshore account.”
The President’s Counsel added that there ought to be a forensic audit on the dealings of the company. However he went to state that the Central Bank had refused to pay the quotation given by the reputed audit firm KPMG to conduct the audit. Jayasuriya praised the efforts by officers of the Auditor General’s department, including state counsel Sudarshana Silva and Senior DIG Ravi Waidyalankara, for carrying out investigations despite threats posed to their lives.
“There are many people in this chain that need to be held responsible and accountable,” he said. “The systems within the Central Bank need to be urgently looked into. I cannot fathom why a private company is a primary dealer and was allowed to trade, misappropriating millions in CB funds.”