Pivithuru Hela Urumaya General Secretary Udaya Gammanpila today said that President Maithripala Sirisena defended former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran by dissolving the Parliament in 2015 on the verge of the submission of the COPE report on Central Bank bond scam.

Speaking to the media today, Gammanpila said that the COPE of the former Parliament, headed by the then MP DEW Gunasekara, had carried out a comprehensive investigation on the bond scam. However, when the report was to be submitted, the Parliament was dissolved, nullifying the report, said Gammanpila.

The new COPE committee started the investigation again, and submitted the report recently, calling for legal action against Mahendran and his son-in-law Arjun Aloysius.

Gammanpila also called on the Prime Minister to resign as the Central Bank was under his purview when the bond scam occurred. Or else, he will have to face a no confidence motion, Gammanpila said.