News 21.07.2018:
Parliament informed by MP Anura Kumar Dissanayake that a Commission Member of the Bond Scam Commission had a serious conflict of interest: his daughter had been working at the PM’s office during currency of the COI
News 21.07.2018:
Bond Scam Commission Member Justice Prasanna Jayawardena denies his daughter worked at Prime Minister’s office: says she was at the Ministry of National Policy and Economic Affairs where the Minister is PM Wickremesinghe:
“Public Domain” stories:
There are stories in the Web (“public domain”) that Prasanna Jayawardena had been associated with Weliamuna’s ‘Lawyers Collective’ (a UNP backed group of lawyers) before he was made a Judge of the Supreme Court.
Justice Prasanna Jayawardena was appointed a Supreme Court Judge in September 2016, well after the First Bond Scam in February 2015 and the Second Bond Scam in March 2016.
He was appointed to the Presidential Commission to inquire into the Bond Scam with effect from 1st January 2017. The Commission handed over its Report in December 2017.
At the time Jayawardena was appointed to the Supreme Court, he was practicing at the Private Bar while serving on the Board of a Finance Company, AMW Capital Leasing and Finance PLC that was being supervised by the Central Bank.
He was also a member of the Board of Directors of Ceylon Cold Stores Ltd, a subsidiary of John Keells Holdings PLC from July 2005 until his appointment as a Supreme Court Judge.
Previously, Justice Jayawardena had also worked at HSBC in a Senior capacity at the same time current Monetary Board Member Nihal Fonseka worked at HSBC.
ISSUES TO BE CLEARED:
On 21st July 2018, the Island Newspaper had reported that Justice Jayawardena has informed the Newspaper that his Harvard educated daughter after obtaining a First Class had “returned in July 2017 and was ‘selected’ along with 7 others to serve the Ministry of National Policy and Economic Affairs as interns till this year”.
The following questions need to be answered:
What was the position for which the recruitment was made?
When was the post advertised? Where was the position advertised? What were the qualifications stipulated?
How many applied for the positions and what was the selection criteria?
Who did the interviews of the candidates and who made the final recruitment?
What was the salary attached to the post and from which Ministry was the disbursement made?
How were the entry qualifications stipulated for the post, determined?
To whom did Justice Jayawardena’s daughter report to and what was her nature of work?
Who determined as to her nature of work? What were the dates of her employment?
Justice Jayawardena has said she has served “till this year”. If so, till when did she serve? If not, Is Justice Jayawardena’s daughter still working at the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs?
What was the physical place of work of Justice Jayawardena’s daughter? Was it the building immediately adjoining Temple Trees, the office of the Prime Minister? Did she have direct access to the Prime Minister or the Deputy Minister? Did she have access to others who had direct access to the Prime Minister? What was her Mobile telephone number? Will she be willing to provide a “Call log” of her incoming and outgoing calls as well as text messages during the period of the Bond Scam inquiry?
During the period of the Commission inquiry, where did Justice Jayawardena’s daughter reside? Was it at Justice Jayawardena’s residence or at a different location?
With regard to the education of Justice Jayawardena’s daughter, when did she receive her education abroad? How was her education funded? Was the approval of the Controller of Exchange obtained to make remittances for her education at Harvard? Did Justice Jayawardena have sufficient taxed income to meet her education and travel expenses? If not, who funded the education?
Did Justice Jayawardena disclose the fact that his daughter had been recruited and was working at the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs (the Ministry under which the Central Bank functioned) while the Commission was making its inquiries into the Bond Scam? If so, what is the reference to that disclosure? If such a disclosure was not done, why was it not done?
Could the internship also be construed as an inducement or bribe to the Member of the Commission to influence the findings and conclusions of the Presidential inquiry? If not, why not?
