Ajith nivard cabraal biography sample paper

Sri Lankan account and former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (born )

Ajith Nivard Cabraal (Sinhala: අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල්) (born 14 December ) is a Sri Lankan accountant and politician who was also the 16th Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.^[1] He is also the former State Minister of Finance, Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms and a former national list member of parliament from to He served as the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, holding the post from 1 July until his resignation on 9 January ^[2][3] He again became the Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka in September , replacing W. D. Lakshman,^[4] and resigned again in April ^[5][6]

Early life and education

Born in Tangalle to Dr Leslie Cabraal, a medical practitioner and Trixie Cabraal; he had four siblings. Cabraal was educated at St. Peter's College, Colombo, and was qualified as a Chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.^{[citation needed]}

Private sector career

Cabraal started his career as an accountant in the private sector and established a management consulting firm called the Cabraal Consulting Group specialized on corporate governance (strategic planning, mediation) and turnarounds. In , he gained an Eisenhower Fellowship.^[7]

Political career

Western provincial council

He started his political career as a member of the United National Party when he contested the provincial council elections in and was elected to the Provincial council of the Western Province, a position he held until ^[8]

Chief economic advisor

Having first met Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was studying law at Sri Lanka Law College when Cabraal was an accountancy student, he quickly became a close confidant Rajapaksa after the latter's appointment as Prime Minister Rajapaksa in , and became his chief economic advisor.^[9][2] In , he left the private sector and was appointed Secretary to the Ministry of Plan Implementation.^[10][11] In February , Cabraal was involved in talks with the Tamil Tigers in Geneva.^[10]

He was president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and also held the positions of President of the South Asian Federation of Accountants.^[12]

Governor of the Central Bank - first term

On 1 July , Cabraal was appointed governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka by President Rajapaksa, for a period of four years. He was given an extension of six years from July 1, , to June 30, ^[8] During his period as the Governor he also functioned as an Alternate Governor of the International Monetary Fund, the Chairman of the South East Asian Central Banks Research and Training Centre (SEACEN) Board of Governors, and the Chairman of the SAARC Central Bank Governors Forum.^[13] Following the presidential election, he resigned on 9 January so that the new President of Sri Lanka can appoint a new Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. He was accused of financial misappropriation following investment in Greek sovereign bonds which resulted in a major loss to the government during his first term.^[14]

From December to August , Cabraal was a senior advisor to the prime minister on economic affairs^[15] and was appointed as a board member of the "Api Wenuwen Api" fund on 21 January under the Ministry of Defence.^[16]

State Minister of Money and Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reform

Cabraal was appointed to the Parliament of Sri Lanka from the national list of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna after the Sri Lankan parliamentary election. He was thereafter appointed State Minister of Finance, Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in August serving under the Minister of FinanceMahinda Rajapaksa. He also functions as a member of the Committee On Public Enterprises (Sri Lanka)^[17] and the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Finance.^[18] He resigned as state minister and member of parliament on 13 September to take the post of governor of the central bank.^{[19][20][21][22]}

Governor of the Central Bank - second term

Main article: Sri Lankan economic crisis (–Present)

Cabraal assumed his second term as governor of the central bank 15 September at a time Sri Lanka was facing a major debt crisis.^[23][24] He requested for and gained cabinet rank as the Governor of the Central Bank.^[25] During his tenure, Central Bank was engaged in printing in excess of trillions of money to finance the budget and economic crisis.^[26][27][28] During his tenure, CBSL allegedly printed Rs. billion rupees overnight on 14 March ^[29]

Cabraal opposed an IMF bailout in favor of a homegrown solution for the debt crisis.^[30] Having depleted foreign currency reserves and gold reserves to boost the Sri Lankan Rupee and repayment of sovereign bonds, the central bank free floated of the currency in early March which saw a 30% depreciation of the Rupee against the dollar in days following major shortages of fuel, food and medicine.^[31][32][33]

On 4 April , he resigned from his position as CBSL governor amid the growing protests over economic crisis.^[34]

Conviction of economic mismanagement

On 7 April , the Colombo Magistrate Court issued an order preventing Cabraal from leaving Sri Lanka until 18 April ^[35] The court order was issued on the basis of a case filed by political activist Keerthi Tennakoon against Cabraal regarding misappropriation and misuse of public funds which led to a massive economic crisis in Sri Lanka.^[36]

Cabraal along with the Rajapakasha brothers and other senior officials were found guilty of economic mismanagement between and by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka which stated on 14 November that the respondents have breached the fundamental rights to equal protection of the law in terms of Article 12(1) of the Constitution in a fundamental rights petition filed by filed by Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) and other four activists.^[37][38][39]

References

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