- Orders State owned entity to disclose details related to awarding of ATM and IT contracts to former Chairman’s private company
The Right to Information Commission has delivered a landmark order by directing the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) to disclose information related to the Bank awarding contracts to a former Chairman’s company and other conflict of interest issues that appears to have taken place from 2007 to 2013.
The People’s Movement Against Corruption (PMAC) filed a Right to Information (RTI) request in order to ascertain details related to the corruption, conflict of interest and misuse of public funds that had taken place during BOC Chairman Gamini Wickramasinghe’s tenure. PMAC has requested BOC to disclose information regarding the awarding of contracts for the procurement and installation of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and other IT services to Informatics, a company owned by him; the tender procedure BOC followed when awarding ATM and IT contracts to Informatics; request to disclose the loans and overdrafts taken by the Informatics Group and its subsidiaries from 2007-2013, during the tenure Wickramasinghe was Chairman of BOC; information regarding loans and overdrafts taken by Informatics
directors – Hiran Wickramasinghe, Hasith Wickramasinghe, Kishanie Wickramasinghe/ Kishani Perera and Janakie (Jacki) Wickramasinghe, during the tenure Wickramasinghe was Chairman of BOC; disclosure of information regarding Gamini Wickramasinghe during his tenure as the bank’s Chairman investing in debenture stocks issued in 2008 by BOC, that were listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange; disclosure on Informatics directors – Hiran Wickramasinghe, Hasith Wickramasinghe, Kishanie Wickramasinghe/ Kishani Perera and Janakie (Jacki) Wickramasinghe investing in debenture stocks issued in 2008 by BOC during Wickramasinghe’s tenure as Chairman of the Bank; details related to BOC obtaining a syndicated loan from Mashrek Bank in Dubai – the terms of the loans, interest rates paid and details related to how that loan was utilised.
The said RTI filed on 30 August 2022, specifically requesting answers and the full disclosure of documentary evidence related to BOC awarding multi-million dollar contracts for the installation of ATM machines and other IT services to subsidiary companies belonging to Informatics, during the period Gamini Wickramasinghe held office as its chairman. It is alleged that the contracts for the installation of ATM machines and other IT services had been awarded to Wickramasinghe’s companies without proper tender procedures being followed.
In 2008, Gamini Wickramasinghe had invested in BOC debenture stocks that were listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange and he was the only BOC board director to invest in the debenture stocks at the time. Other than the issue of conflict of interest arising from the involvement of such transactions, this also raises serious concerns over the possibility of market manipulation due to the fact that Wickramasinghe was the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while also holding the position as the Chairman of BOC. These acts have been perpetrated by the said former BOC Chairman, despite conflict-of-interest mechanisms being placed under the Banking Act Direction No. 11 of 2007 issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) on Corporate Governance for licensed banks. During the year 2011 and 2012, the said former BOC Chairman had facilitated the obtaining of syndicated loans amounting to $ 175 million, $140 million and $190 million at three separate stages from Mashreqbank of Dubai at high interest rates. In the RTI request that was made, BOC has been requested to disclose the review, approvals and observations made by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Finance in obtaining the said syndicated loans from a foreign entity.
The Information Officer of BOC W.A.G.L Weerakkody in a letter dated 18 October 2022 rejected the RTI request made by PMAC by providing incomplete and misleading information. The People’s Movement Against Corruption appealed against the decision made by BOC to reject the RTI application and the RTI Commission’s judgement was officially delivered on 26 November 2024 which ordered BOC to provide all the requested information.
The Commission in its judgement declared, “In whole, it is our considered view that the Public Authority has failed to discharge the burden of proof under Section 32 (4) of the RTI Act to establish that it processed the information request in a manner that adheres to the Act. Indeed, as our examination of the impugned responses disclose, the said response have been issued by the Information Officer in a careless or perfunctory manner which has been affirmed by the Designated Officer without due regard to the statutory duty of care imposed under Section 31 of the Act.”
“The Public Authority is apprised that the said information pertains to transparency of procedures adopted by Public Authorities in pursuance of its public function for which purpose, public funds are utilised. Accordingly, a greater standard of care must be followed in responding to information requests of this nature,” the RTI Commission in its order declared.
BOC was ordered by the Commission to disclose the requested information on or before 31 December 2024. The RTI Commission further decided that, if Bank of Ceylon fails to comply with the Commission’s order in disclosing the requested information before the said date, the Bank of Ceylon Information Officer and the Bank will be prosecuted before the relevant Magistrate’s Court under Section 39 of the RTI Act No.12 of 2016.
The order was delivered by the RTI Commission Chairman Justice Upaly Abeyratne, Kishali Pinot Jayawardena (Commissioner), Jagath Liyana Arachchi (Commissioner), and A.M. Nahiya (Commissioner). Attorney-at-Law Swasthika Arulingam appeared for the People’s Movement Against Corruption.