The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development

¶ 01 Madam Presiding Member, today we debate 23 institutions under the Ministry of Finance. I note that only Dr. Harsha de Silva from the Opposition is present; at least someone is here, otherwise this debate has no meaning. Opposition Members must actively engage, especially on a Head like Finance.

¶ 02 Regarding institutions linked to my Ministry — the Department of Import and Export Control and the Department of Trade and Investment Policies — I will comment. There are long‑standing unresolved issues within the Finance portfolio. I recall Dr. Harsha de Silva tabled some COPE footnotes this morning, but investigations reveal more matters yet to be probed; our Government must now do these investigations.

¶ 03 The Central Bank bond scam occurred in 2015; we are now in 2025. At end‑2024 when we assumed office, we said even details relating to accounts used to distribute money to politicians and associates must be tabled. The State Minister Dr. Harshaana Suryap-peruma also mentioned this. Although Dr. Harsha could not table it today, inquiries are underway. Some names have surfaced. Payments were made from a Seylan Bank account jointly operated by Aloysius and his father. There are 156 cheques. Some politicians have been directly named as recipients.

¶ 04 Beyond that, payments were made via wine stores — settling politicians’ transactions through chain stores. If liquor was obtained from Mendis, Mendis should be paid, but instead cheques were issued to wine stores, who then settled with district politicians. When further names come to light, wine store owners will have to testify that they received Mendis cheques and to whom they passed them. Dr. Harsha, we will reveal this in due course.