brand logo

‘I am entitled to a pension’

07 Sep 2021

 
  • Cabraal says he is yet to receive CBSL Governor pension 6 years after leaving
  • Denies he proposed and approved pension for himself
  • Denies ‘pushing’ for other governors’ pensions
  • Pension scheme was stopped in 2004: Harsha
  By Imsha Iqbal State Minister of Money, Capital Market, and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal has stated that he is “entitled” to a pension after media reports stirred a debate that he is pressuring the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) to provide him his pension. In a tweet, the State Minister said that he has served as the Governor of the CBSL for over eight-and-a-half years, during the period from 1 July 2006 to 8 January 2015, and is therefore entitled to a retirement salary in accordance with his letter of appointment.  The following was posted on his Twitter handle yesterday (6): “Facts: (1)Served as Governor from 1.7.06 to 8.1.15, >8 yrs: (2)Appointment letter provided for “pension”: (3)No #pension paid even after 4 yrs of resigning:(4)Informed Gov C’swamy on 12.2.19:(5)Never “pushed” for pensions for other CB Govs. #SriLanka #FakeNews #facts (sic).” Cabraal was responding to media reports doing the rounds on social media stating that he had proposed and approved a pension scheme from the CBSL for himself. Cabraal added that no pension has been granted thus far although he left the CBSL in 2015. Accordingly, Cabraal had officially communicated the situation about his pension to former CBSL Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy on 12 February 2019, as at that time it was almost four years since Cabraal had left the CBSL. The media reports also fuelled speculation that former CBSL Governor Arjuna Mahendran too would be a beneficiary of the said pension scheme for CBSL governors. However, Cabraal said in response to such speculation that he has not “pushed” for the granting of pensions to other governors. Meanwhile, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Member of Parliament (MP) Dr. Harsha de Silva on his Twitter handle questioned the ethicality behind Cabraal allegedly proposing as well as approving a pension for himself as a political appointee after merely serving a year. Quoting the above-mentioned media report, Dr. Harsha de Silva further noted that the pension has been stopped following the tenure of the last internal Governor Deshamanya A.S. Jayawardena in 2004.  Highlighting the eligibility of a political appointee to receive the pension, the SJB MP tweeted: “The obvious question is MP pension after serving 5 years. The amount is I believe a nominal Rs 50k/mo or less. This is to pay pension even if one serves three months and how much; and that too for political appointees (sic).” Cabraal was the 12th Governor of the CBSL and a Chartered Accountant by profession. He has been an internationally recognised consultant in corporate governance and has served as the Chairman of the Corporate Governance Committee which developed the first Code of Best Practice on Corporate Governance in Sri Lanka. He was the Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka on Economic Affairs and served as Secretary to the Ministry of Plan Implementation, prior to his appointment as the Governor of the CBSL.  


More News..