The presidential commission investigating bond sales of the central bank was told that a condominium at the luxury Monarch tower was taken on lease by a front company of Perpetual Treasuries for minister Karunanayake and his family.
The landlady, Anika Wijesuriya of East West properties, in her evidence said she leased her 5th floor apartment for 8.7 million rupees and the money was paid by a subsidiary of Perpetual Treasuries in January 2016.
Subsequently, towards the end of the same year, Karunanayake bought the flat through his logistics company for 165 million rupees, she said.
She said PT’s then CEO Arjun Aloysius had wanted her to destroy her copy of the lease agreement in 2016 following media leaks that he was paying rent for the finance minister, but she did not.
The lease agreement had been registered at the lands registry.
Proceedings are continuing.
(COLOMBO, July 24, 2017)