A Party Leaders meeting will be held on Monday (22) to decide on a date for the debate on the Bond report and PRECIFAC reports.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, addressing a special press conference at the Parliamentary Complex after the receipt of the reports from the Presidential Secretariat, said all the reports will be tabled when Parliament meets on January 23.
The Presidential Secretariat handed over 26 copies of the Bond report and a copy of the PRECIFAC final report containing 34 volumes to Parliament Secretary General Dhammika Dassanayake yesterday morning.
The report of Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Bond Issue contains 1,400 pages and only the English copy is available. Both reports were handed over by the Presidential Secretariat’s legal officer Muditha Dissanayake to Parliament yesterday. The report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate and inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC) runs to over 10,000 pages and only the Sinhala copy is available.
Speaker Jayasuriya said tabling the reports in all three languages is the usual practice of Parliament as per the Standing Orders. “Therefore we informed the Presidential Secretariat on the need of translations of these copies as soon as possible. The Presidential Secretariat has entrusted the task of translations to the Official Languages Department,” he said.
The Speaker also told the media that the Presidential Secretariat has informed that the Bond Commission report has been uploaded to its official website.
Soon after the press briefing the Speaker met the Government Printer to get 300 copies of the bond report as soon as possible to distribute among the 225 MPs and the media. The Speaker said he has requested more copies of the PRECIFAC report from the Presidential Secretariat as the only copy now in possession of Parliament could not be sent to other institutions as it has a responsibility to make sure that the content would not be altered.
The Speaker said a Party Leaders Meeting has been scheduled at 9.30 am on January 22 to decide on a date to debate the reports.
Responding to a question as to how MP Ravi Karunanayake has received a copy of the bond report before the other MPs, the Speaker said the report was not sent to Karunanayake through Parliament. Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumanthipala replied that the Presidential Secretariat has sent a copy to MP Karunanayake as his name has been mentioned in the report.
Asked as to what disciplinary action Parliament intends to take on the MPs who had been named in the Bond report, Sumathipala said Parliament does not have to assume the role of the courts of law. He added that the legal process would determine what actions to be taken.