10 years since the infamous "bond scam"

Abstract

The 27th of February marks ten years since the infamous “bond scam” of 2015. This resulted in a forensic audit, completed in 2019, on activities of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) with regard to bond market auctions and irregular transactions of the EPF, which is Sri Lanka's largest superannuation fund that is also managed by the CBSL. This audit reports that the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) has suffered close to LKR 20 billion in losses from bond and equity market investments, with an additional LKR 19 billion in foregone earnings, as a result of bypassing due process and investing in unlisted equity.