PBJ continues but Cabraal tipped for the post if resignation is accepted

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is yet to accept Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera’s ‘resignation’ but in the event that happens some names including Central Bank Governor Ajit Nivard Cabraal have been mentioned as possible replacements for this position, a senior Presidential Secretariat official said on Wednesday.

He said a short while ago that the weekly cabinet meeting will not be held today, as normally scheduled, due to the SAARC summit and thus no changes in the Treasury Secretary’s position will be made until next week. Dr Jayasundera came under fire from the Supreme Court last week in the court’s judgement on the privatisation of Lanka Marine Services Ltd. The court ordered that the Treasury Secretary pay a sum of Rs 500,000 as compensation which the latter did on Monday.

The official said Dr Jayasundera, in his letter to the President, has asked that he be ‘relieved of his duties’ and suggested that Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Sumith Abeysinghe be appointed as the acting Secretary to the Treasury. While Mr Cabraal’s name has been suggested to the President as a possible candidate for the Treasury Secretary’s job, other names being mentioned for this position are Highways Ministry Secretary S. Amarasinghe, Additional Secretary to the President Gamini Senarath and Deputy Secretary to the Treasury Sumith Abeysinghe. No names have been mentioned for the Central Bank Governor’s job if Mr Cabraal moves to the Finance Ministry, he said.