The Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar yesterday fixed for November 19 the case filed against former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake and 10 accused in connection with the alleged fraud that took place in connection with the Central Bank Bond auction held in 2015.
The case was taken up before Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar High Court Judges comprising Damith Thotawatte, Manjula Tilakaratne and Mohamed Isardeen yesterday.
Defence informed the court that they hope to file a preliminary objection to the case in the future.
Accordingly, the Bench ordered that the case to be taken up again on November 19.
The Attorney General alleged that Perpetual Treasuries Limited has used Central Bank’s important undisclosed information to artificially alter the final outcome of the Treasury Bond Auction. The Attorney General further alleged that this fraud has caused injustice to other primary sellers in the bond market and the PTL has acted cunningly and made a huge profit and conspired to cause a huge loss to the Government.
The charges have been filed under Section 56 of the Registered Securities and Exchange Ordinance for conspiracy, criminal misappropriation, cheating and market manipulation in respect of the Bond auctions in March 2016.
Indictments were filed against 11 accused comprising 32 charges. They are; former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayke, CBSL former Governor Arjuna Mahendran, Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) beneficiary owner Arjun Aloysius, PTL Chief dealer Kasun Palisena, Chairman of PTL Jeffrey Joseph Aloysius, Chitta Ranjan Hulugalle, Muthuraja Surendran, Ajahn Gardiye Punchihewa, Sangarapillai Pathumanapan, Badugoda Hewa Indika Saman Kumara.
The Attorney General alleged that the accused could be charged for conspiracy to commit criminal misappropriation in respect of treasury bonds to the face value of Rs.36.98 billion and Rs.15 billion respectively in March, 2016.
by Daily News Sri Lanka
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