The recently resigned chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tilak Karunaratne, has said he is willing to provide evidence of malpractices in the Colombo Stock Exchange.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror on practices between June 2010 and December 2010, Karunaratne said:
“Yes of course, this was most certainly day light robbery. During the conflict the market was dull and there was quite rightly euphoria after the war ended. Then the market gradually rose up."
"Then suddenly we find that between June and December 2010 it shot up suddenly. And this was due to manipulation. What they did was they found certain stocks which are not liquid. These stocks have no intrinsic value and they started manipulating and arbitrarily increasing the price by having trades among themselves and their crony brokers."
"Then what happened is that others -- the innocent, ignorant investors who were also directed by these crony brokers bought stocks wanting to make a killing and in the end were duped.”
Commenting on the widespread impunity enjoyed by those in positions of power, Karunaratne said:
“Take the Central Bank for example. It is run by an accountant when it should be an economist running it and now everything seems to have fallen apart. I shudder to think what would have happened if we won the Commonwealth games bid so vehemently supported by the CB Governor. A lot of guys accused of wrongdoing still survive and many with integrity have left in disgust,”
"When I accepted this post in December last year, I had a lot of hope and expectations that I will be able to do something constructive to put the Colombo Stock Market on the right track in reaching greater heights. Today I’m a disappointed man. I tried my best but I didn’t get the support from the people who appointed me to this position and under the circumstances I had no choice but to resign"
