-By LeN Investigations Desk
(Lanka-e-News - 21.Oct.2025, 6.10 AM) It was the scandal that shook Sri Lanka’s post-war economy—a financial heist cloaked in technical jargon and executed at the heart of the Central Bank under the watch of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government. Nearly a decade later, the trail of the so-called “bond scam” has resurfaced in an unexpected direction: Singapore and Australia.
Lanka-e-News has learned through credible financial documentation and insider leaks that millions siphoned from Sri Lanka’s 2015 Treasury bond transactions were quietly funneled overseas and invested in companies operating across Singapore and Australia. The funds, reportedly handled through intermediaries connected to former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran and his son-in-law Arjun Aloysius, were channelled into business fronts registered under clean corporate facades.
Mahendran, a Singaporean national who was handpicked and appointed by then–Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, has long evaded justice since fleeing Sri Lanka in the wake of President Maithripala Sirisena’s public fallout with Wickremesinghe over the scandal. Despite repeated extradition requests and Interpol notices, Singapore has remained notably silent—raising growing concerns about the city-state’s true commitment to global anti-corruption principles.
“If Singapore is as transparent and corruption-free as it proudly proclaims, then why is it shielding one of the most wanted fugitives in Sri Lanka’s financial history?”
— Senior source, Lanka-e-News Investigations Desk
According to internal sources, portions of the bond proceeds—estimated in the billions of rupees—were later disbursed to several political figures, including a few who publicly defended the transaction as “a mere financial misinterpretation.” One such politician, now a sitting SJB parliamentarian, has been accused of receiving indirect financial benefits through publishing contracts and consultancy fees related to “educational” writings on the bond issue.
The scandal, originally unearthed through the Central Bank’s bond auctions in early 2015, revolved around preferential access and inside information that allowed Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL), controlled by Aloysius, to rake in astronomical profits. A Presidential Commission of Inquiry later confirmed widespread irregularities, but Mahendran—its central figure—remains beyond the reach of Sri Lankan law enforcement.
Lanka e-News has obtained credible evidence pointing to three registered Australian companies and two Singapore-based corporate entities believed to have received portions of these illicit funds. These companies reportedly manage investment portfolios, luxury real estate, and consultancy services—vehicles often used for financial laundering and offshore reinvestment.
This revelation now places Singapore in an uncomfortable position. The island nation, celebrated as a model of financial transparency, faces accusations of hypocrisy if it continues to protect Mahendran under the guise of procedural or diplomatic niceties.
Sri Lankan civil society activists are calling for a boycott of Singaporean investments in Sri Lanka unless the fugitive banker is extradited. They argue that Singapore cannot simultaneously champion global integrity standards and harbour a man accused of orchestrating one of Asia’s largest financial frauds.
“If Singaporean politicians and regulators are truly clean,” Lanka e-News editorialized, “they can demonstrate it by handing over Mahendran to face justice in Sri Lanka. Otherwise, it will appear that Singapore’s financial system has been used to whitewash stolen public funds.”
The latest disclosures come amid growing speculation that Singaporean banking authorities were alerted years ago to the suspicious inflows but opted for administrative silence—raising questions about whether political influence or strategic financial interests played a role in blocking investigations.
Meanwhile, calls are growing louder in Colombo for the government to seize Singaporean-owned assets in Sri Lanka to recover losses suffered by taxpayers. “If Singapore refuses cooperation,” one senior official suggested, “Sri Lanka must reconsider its financial and diplomatic engagement with a nation that shelters economic fugitives.”
As Lanka-e-News prepares to release further evidence detailing the specific banks and corporate structures used to conceal these funds, the story appears far from over.
For now, one question looms large over both nations:
If Singapore truly stands for transparency, why is Arjuna Mahendran still living freely under its protection?
Link for further reading;
Bond Scam -Part One: How a February 27 Auction Shook Sri Lanka
---------------------------
by (2025-10-21 00:38:51)
Read 8472 Times
Leave a Reply
0 discussion on this news