The Joint Opposition today said that it will proceed to seek the determination of the court with regard to the legality of a non-citizen of Sri Lanka singing the currency notes printed for circulation. 

MP Bandula Gunawardana stated this at the press conference of the Joint Opposition’s Economic Research Unit held today (09).

MP Gunawardana states that the former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Arjuna Mahendran is a citizen of Singapore, and explained that the law of Singapore prohibits a citizen from holding dual citizenship, preventing Arjuna Mahendran from acquiring citizenship in Sri Lanka.

Although according to the Constitution of Sri Lanka the Governor of the Central Bank should formally be sworn in, Arjuna Mahendran announced before the Committee On Public Enterprises (COPE) that he had not in fact been officially sworn in. According to Bandula Gunawardana, this created a difficult situation where the legal guidelines were not clear-cut.

The MP stated that an issue has now arisen where the legality of a non-citizen placing his/her signature on bank notes and the validity of such notes already in use are both being questioned, and added that such an event had never occurred in the history of Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy, responding to a question from journalists during a press briefing at the CBSL, said that all currencies issued by the Central Bank is legal tender.