( November 30, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Guardian) UNP MP Eran Wickramaratne, who raised the matter in Parliament on
Monday, issued the following statement yesterday:
I have noted that the
Central Bank has issued a statement defending its acquisition of a property in
New York City in response to a legitimate question I asked the Deputy Minister
of Finance in Parliament on Monday. The question was posed based on a report by
the Advisory Audit Committee of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri
Lanka.
The clarification I
sought from the Minister was to state when the property was purchased, for what
purpose, and for what price. The Minister confirmed the purchase, its location,
the extent of the building, and the price paid. As this was an unusual
transaction, I wanted to ensure that proper process had been followed. What was
the process? Was a broker utilised? Who was the broker? And what was the
brokerage fee? From whom was the building purchased?
The property is
currently being used by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry to house one of its
diplomatic offices. While there may be a case for purchasing properties
overseas to accommodate Sri Lankan diplomatic missions, such purchases should
be done by the Government of Sri Lanka and approval for such expenditure made
through the Budget provision.
It is normal for a
central bank to invest its reserves in financial instruments and gold. There
are established international markets, products and processes to do so. It will
be normal to invest a country’s foreign exchange reserves in US Treasuries and
similar instruments in other markets. An investment in an isolated property in
New York naturally arouses curiosity. It is a time to be vigilant as it may be
another questionable avenue that is being opened in the management of Sri
Lanka’s foreign reserves.
It is not so long ago
that the Central Bank dissipated approximately US$ 3 billion defending the
parity of the Sri Lankan Rupee against the US Dollar. The colossal blunder was
more costly than the 2.6 billion that was obtained from the IMF as a standby
facility, not to mention investment made in junk Greek bonds.
 UNP MP Eran Wickramaratne, who raised the matter in Parliament on Monday, issued the...){kind=link}