6 October 2021 09:41 am Views - 109
By Easwaran Rutnam
The Cabinet yesterday discussed Pandora Papers and the damaging effect it could have on the country, Daily Mirror learns.
Government sources said that the matter was raised when the Cabinet met last night.
The Cabinet was scheduled to meet in person but a last-minute change saw the meeting being held virtually.
Sources told Daily Mirror that at the Cabinet meeting a number of Ministers had made comments on the allegations made against former Deputy Minister Nirupama Rajapaksa and her husband Thirukumar Nadesan.
The Cabinet had then collectively agreed that a comprehensive investigation must be carried out on the allegations.
The Government is now expected to announce the launch of an investigation into the allegations.
In the Pandora Papers, confidential documents, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, revealed that as the country was ravaged by a bloody, decades-long civil war, Nirupama Rajapaksa and her husband Thirukumar Nadesan set up anonymous offshore trusts and shell companies to acquire artwork and luxury apartments and to store cash, securities and other assets in secret.
Pandora Papers revealed that the couple was able to amass and hide their fortune in secrecy jurisdictions with the assistance of financial services providers, lawyers and other white-collar professionals who asked few questions about the source of their wealth – even after Nadesan became a target of a well-publicised corruption investigation by Sri Lankan authorities.