The Sri Lankan government failed to provide Tamil or English translations of reports on the treasury bond scandal and of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate into serious acts of fraud and corruption (PRECIFAC), leading to a postponement of the scheduled debates.
TNA Parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran raised the lack of translations in parliament, clashing with Joint opposition Parliamentarian Vasudeva Nanayakkara, who is a former Sri Lankan Minister of National Languages.
"Why are you asking us to speak only on one report?” Mr Sumanthiran was quoted by The Island as asking. “You were the Minister of National Languages in the previous government. You should have demanded that the reports be made available in both national languages."
“I cannot even understand if somebody refers to something in the PRECIFAC report,” he continued. “I cannot follow it. Is that the way you want me to participate in a debate? Having been the Minister of National Languages, and having gone around the world saying all kinds of things, you are suggesting that I should continue to sit here in a debate where things are referred to in a language that I cannot read."
See more from The Island here.
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