Former minister Keheliya Rambukwella says it is obvious to anyone that every loan taken by the government of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was utilized for development projects and that the results can be seen around the country. 

President Maithripala Sirisena had recently charged some nine trillion rupees worth of foreign loans that the country had received during the decade-long rule of Rajapaksa was unaccounted for. 

“We know that 10 trillion rupees came into Sri Lanka during the regime of Rajapaksa, but the finance ministry can only account for one trillion rupees. We do not know what happened to the remaining money,” Sirisena told a breakfast meeting attended by editors of local media last week. 

But parliamentarian Keheliya Rambukwella, who was the official spokesperson of the former government, pointed to the country’s developments as a defense. 

“They are saying there was corruption, but it is obvious to anyone that every loan that was taken by the former president was utilized for development projects,” Rambukwella was quoted as saying by Nikkei Asian Review.

“If you look around the country you can see the results of the development and where the monies went. This government [referring to the coalition] has only been taking loans but we see nothing in terms of physical development for the past three years,” he said.

Rambukwella also said of the ruling coalition: “They came to power promising to catch the culprits who were involved in corruption, but three years later nothing has happened. So, either this government is really inefficient or their allegations have turned out to be baseless.” 

-Agencies