Hisbullah, son fail to appear before COPE; ordered to appear again on Oct. 9

By Ajith Siriwardana   

Officials of the Batticaloa Campus and Hira Foundation including its Chairman Hiras Hizbullah and former Eastern Province Governor M.A.L.M. Hizbullah did not appear before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) as summoned saying that they were out of the country.   

It was revealed before the committee that they had informed the Higher Education Ministry that they were unable to attend the hearing on September 17 because they had to be part of a delegation visiting overseas.   

Mr. Hizbullah had informed the ministry that they had been informed of yesterday’s COPE meeting only on September 7 and were unable to appear before the committee at a short notice and requested another date.   
However, COPE Chairman Sunil Hadunnetti said the Parliament had informed the Higher Education Ministry on August 26 to convey the message to 
the Batticaloa Campus and 
Hira Foundation.   

Considering the facts, Mr Hadunnetti ordered to re-summon the officials of the Batticaloa Campus and the Hira Foundation on October 9 and ordered them to show cause for not appearing before it when summoned.   They were also ordered to submit a report on the country they visited and details of the meeting they attended when they next appear before 
the committee.   

The officials of the Bank of Ceylon and Higher Education Ministry appeared before the committee as summoned to explain matters with regard to funding of the Batticaloa Campus.   
The BOC officials explained that funds received to several accounts of the Hira Foundation and Batticaloa Campus had not been recorded as a loan and it was recorded as foreign remittances and added that the Bank did not suspect the channel of funding as it had been received through reputed banks.   

However, they said they had informed the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank about the funds received over One million Rupees in its periodical reports as it was a regular practice.