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CB Bond scam caused economic crisis, not MR regime: Yapa
The Joint Opposition today slammed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for accusing Rajapaksa regime of current economic crisis and charged that the recent tax reforms were a result of the Central Bank Bond sale scam which took place a year ago.
UPFA MP Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said the Prime Minister’s argument was that the actions of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government had caused economic crisis, which he said was a lie.
“This is an utter lie. The taxes were had to increase as a result of the Central bank Bond sale. Economists had calculated that the interest rate of Sri Lanka which was 9.5 percent had been increased to 13. 5 percent because of the Bond scam.
“Because of this, we have to pay extra Rs. 145 billion in 30 years as interest. This is the year, we have to make the first payment which is an excessive amount of Rs. 5 billion and this is why the taxes were increased. People are paying for the Bond scam today,” he told a news conference.
Meanwhile, he said the Central Bank Governor, who is in the centre of the controversy of the alleged Bond sale, had meet the Attorney General in discreet, where there is a court case pending against him.
“This is absurd. The Government should also look into the Governor’s son-in-law’s company under the Money Laundering Act,” MP Abeywardena said.
Quoting a World Bank report on the economy of the country from 2005 to 2013, the MP said Sri Lanka had taken commendable measures to eradicate poverty and to improve livelihood and basic services for the people. (Lahiru Pothmulla)
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