It is reported that the Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake had told Parliament that there is no need to table its accounts in Parliament because no money is allocated to the presidential fund from the consolidated account. This statement of the Prime Minister misled not only the Parliament but also the public. This will inevitably add fuel to the doubts the people have about the transactions of the president’s fund.
The president’s fund perhaps is the largest fund in the country outside the consolidated fund. However, the fund has not been audited after 1995 and consequently the present size of the fund is not clear. In 1994 the amount in it was Rs. 3 billion or Rs. 3000 million. However, that cannot be the amount available in it today.
The main source of income for the fund is that derived from the instant lotteries. The income of the National Lotteries Board in 1994 was Rs. 3255 million. In 1995 the income was Rs. 6376 million. In 1996 it was Rs. 8130 million. In 1997 it was Rs. 9595 million and in 1998 it was Rs. 13,195 million. Generally the development lottery and other instant lotteries earn a higher income than that earned by the National Lotteries Board. Accordingly, even if the income from the instant lotteries that go into the president’s fund annually is considered to be Rs. 10,000 million, it is possible to surmise the present size of the president’s fund.
Several figures that may be compared for the purpose of assessing the significance of a sum of Rs. 10,000 million in relation to the size and the activity of the national money are as follows: The income from the tea exports of the country in 1993 was Rs. 50,280 million. The income from rubber exports was Rs. 2,808 million. The total earned from the sale of 83% of the shares of 20 government owned estate companies was Rs. 3,777 million. The total value of the relief granted to 1,973,183 Samurdhi facilities in 1998 was Rs. 9,652 million. The capital expenditure on education in that year was Rs. 8,198 million. The capital expenditure on health was Rs. 7,109 million. The capital expenditure on the war was Rs. 9,600 million. All this shows that the president’s fund is not a minor fund but one of the largest in the country.
This income too is derived not from personal estates of the individuals who are appointed to the post of President, but from the instant lotteries introduced by the government. According to the financial laws of the country all lotteries of the government must be under National Lotteries Board. The income they earn must be credited to the consolidated fund and if there are any special funds of the government, provision for them too must be under the consolidated fund. However, disregarding this rule, Mr. J.R. Jayewardene created a president’s fund to suit his own egoistical personality and also set up a system whereby the income from the development lottery flowed to his fund (the president’s fund) bypassing the consolidated fund. This system which disrupts the financial management of the State was severely criticised by the then opposition. However, that opposition which has become the government now, has now become great defenders of that very system. According to the Presidential Fund Act, the fund comes under the supervision of the Auditor General and there is also a legal obligation to present the accounts of the fund to the Parliament. Accordingly the statement of the Prime Minister may be considered one meant to camouflage the truth and to mislead the Parliament.
If the institutions under the Executive President of the country are not in a proper order there cannot be any sense in speaking about those under lesser persons. If the president’s fund which is perhaps, the biggest fund next to the consolidated fund has not been audited after 1995, what it shows is the parlous state of the financial management of the State. In reply to a question of which notice had been given by Mr. Sarath Kongahage when he was UNP parliamentarian in regard to the president’s fund, the government presented to the Parliament a list of the main beneficiaries of the president’s fund. Surprisingly that list did not contain the amounts of the donations received by those persons included in the list.
That the fund had not been audited after 1995 was revealed still later. What the statement made by the Prime Minister now indicates is that the government for whatever reason wants to conceal the transactions that have occurred under the fund.