Commentary

COLOMBO: Efforts by certain political groups as well as certain sections of the media to discredit and humiliate Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal is a conspiracy to dampen the initiatives taken by him. Cabraal was first appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Secretary, Ministry of Plan Implementation. He was appointed Governor of the Central Bank on July 1, 2006.

Perhaps the fact that Cabraal had been appointed by a President who was elected from a different political party may be now irking these Opposition MPs and others. His integrity is impeccable, his talents are extensive and his career is studded with many achievements, which make him highly suitable to be appointed as the Governor of the Central Bank.

Let us consider some allegations levelled against Cabraal. The claim that he is connected to pyramid schemes, is obviously a malicious and untenable attempt to tarnish his credibility because Cabraal's views on "pyramid schemes" and multi-level marketing is clear, consistent and in the public domain.

In his book, Lak Mawata Muthu Potak published in October 2004, he has included an essay authored by him titled, "Pyramids in Sri Lanka".

In that article, he has clearly explained the dangers and ill effects of pyramid schemes and advised the general public to beware of such schemes. Cabraal could naturally be relied upon to systematically eliminate the Pyramid menace in Sri Lanka.

The Central Bank is pursuing all such investigations with the assistance of the Police and the Attorney General's Department.

It has also been claimed that an alleged pyramid marketing company, Gold quest has invested in Capital Reach Holdings Ltd. which is supposed to be Cabraal's "family" company.

Here too, Cabraal has explained that he and his family holds less than a 2 per cent stake in Capital Reach Holdings Ltd., and that fact clearly indicates that the claim is without foundation. It is a well-known fact that Goldquest and its connected companies have been purchasing shares in many Sri Lankan companies, and that their investments in several other companies have been much higher than the investment they are supposed to have made in Capital Reach Holdings Ltd.

Since taking over as the Central Bank Governor, Cabraal has taken some bold and courageous steps. Freezing TRO accounts which have been suspected of terrorism funding, stepping up investigations and recovery processes to recover and to bring persons responsible for the failed finance companies to book, facilitating the increase of remittances from migrant workers, promoting and encouraging investments into Sri Lanka, creating awareness regarding hedging instruments so that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation could reduce their oil import bills, are a few such initiatives.

Because of petty party politics and professional jealousies, let us not discourage a true son of the soil. The Government and the majority of the people of this country value his work.

For the record, Cabraal is an Eisenhower Fellow and an internationally recognised Consultant in Corporate Governance. He was the Founder Chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee which developed the Code of Best Practice on Corporate Governance in Sri Lanka.

He served as the President of the Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioners Association of Sri Lanka. He is a Past President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, South Asian Federation of Accountants.

He has served on the Boards of the Securities and Exchange Commission, National Institute of Business Management, Post Graduate Institute of Management and the University of Moratuwa.