The Central Bank (CB) has ordered the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), Citibank and three other banks involved in the controversial oil hedging deals not to go ahead with the transactions, a ruling which effectively means the agreements will be discontinued senior CB officials said.
What started out as a fundamental rights case on the alleged fraud surrounding the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and the banks with which it went into oil hedging agreements which has now resulted in the revision of oil prices in the country, the removal of duty waivers given to Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC), the suspension of CPC's Deputy General Manager of Finance Lalith Karunaratne and the submission of documents showing that Standard Chartered Bank funded overseas trips taken by former CPC Chairman Asantha De Mel.
