Mangala hits...

He said the common belief in accordance with Buddhist and Hindu culture is that those who take the coins which are given for meritorious purposes will be subjected to curse from Gods. He also said one should look at the legal provisions during such acts.

Mr. Samaraweera charged that the Central Bank would also take steps to collect 2.3 billion coins that are in Sri Lankan households soon. He said this referring to a statement made by Central Bank Governor Nivaard Cabral that such an amount of coins remained in the drawers and tills of the Sri Lankan public. “It is questionable as to how the Central Bank could make such estimation,” he said. Mr. Samaraweera said the Central Bank should instead attempt to recover millions and millions of dollars lying in the names of top politicians in foreign banks. He said the Central Bank could seek the assistance of Stolen Asset Recovery Unit of the World Bank for this purpose.

He charged that top ruling party politicians are now making arrangements to transfer their funds lying in European Banks to banks in other parts of the world.