(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told Parliament that he has not been in contact with former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran after the latter was removed from the post.
The Prime Minister was responding to a question by Chief Opposition Whip and JVP Leader Anura Dissanayake, who queried as to why he could not make a personal effort to bring back the former CB Governor.
“You have had close contacts with Mahendran to an extent that you at a previous time had been aware that he was going abroad to attend a wedding. As the appointing authority, you have a responsibility to bring him back,” the MP told the PM.
“Mahendran kept me informed of his foreign visits when he was working under me as the Central Bank Governor. The incumbent CB Governor and other Ministry Officials also do the same.
That obligation is not there when they no longer hold the position. I have had no contacts with Mahendran even when I went before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to give evidence. It was his habit to change houses from time to time and that is a general practice in Singapore. I am unaware of his whereabouts and he had left the country without informing me,” the PM replied.
