Presidential Commission to probe stock market irregularities
View(s):Complaints on Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) irregularities will be soon probed by the Special Presidential Commission appointed to investigate large scale corruption and fraud in state institutions during the past five years, official sources revealed.
The commission has received 820 complaints since April on corruption, fraud and irregularities in public sector institutions including insider trading and pumping and dumping at the CSE, illegal acquisition of lands, and the handling of money in the Employees’ Provident Fund during the past 5 years.
Of this 115 have been directed for investigations and assistance of a special police unit will be sought to conduct around 60 investigations under the first stage. A team of 10 Police officers headed by an Assistant Superintendent of Police is currently conducting investigations, the sources said.
A group of senior government officials have lodged complaints against malpractices at the Finance and Economic Development Ministries under former Secretary Dr P.B. Jayasundera who was the chief accountant of the institutions coming under the two ministries.
The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) has summoned Dr. Jayasundera around six times to record statements on the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation hedging matter and other irregularities that has caused heavy losses to state resources and state revenue in some state institutions handled by him during the period 10 January 2010 to 10 January 2015.
The commission has the mandate to summon anyone despite their political affiliations or power, a government official said, adding that it is planning to summon several former chairmen and senior officials of state institutions including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
It has already commenced public hearings at the BMICH in Colombo on the misappropriation of public funds in the Ceylon Fisheries Harbour Corporation (CFHC) during end December 2014.
Construction work on the plaque was given to a contractor who was selected from the list of names sent by the corporation General Manager without calling for tenders. The commission comprising High Court Judges Padman Surasena, Amendra Seneviratna, Vikum Kaluarachchi, Gihan Kulatunga and former Auditor General B.A. Premathilake was appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to probe irregularities and large-scale corruption in state institutions.
| More than 10 stock fraud case referrals by SEC go to FCID The Financial Crimes Investigation Unit (FCID) has received over 10 cases from the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to securities fraud, officials said. “All these cases are on share transactions during 2011-2013,” an official, who declined to be named, told the Business Times. The FCID began probing these cases during the past four months and are in constant touch with the SEC to get more information, according to the official. He said that the SEC is swamped with detailed reports on certain suspect transactions. “The FCID had wanted additional information on those cases and they had also wanted certain transactions analysed by the SEC,” he said. In May, businessman Dilith Jayaweera, was summoned to the FCID to record a statement regarding an alleged financial irregularity relating to a share transaction. | |