Governor of the Central Bank – Ajith Nivard Cabraal has dismissed rumours that Sri Lankan banks have been ordered by the Central Bank to forcibly convert balances in customers Forex accounts.
Tweeting, he has said, “Rumors spread by some mischievous elements that Sri Lankan #banks have been ordered by @CBSL to forcibly convert balances in their customers’ #Forex accounts are totally false.”
BASL files Writ petition
However, in December 2021, President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka – Saliya Pieris and Deputy President Anura B. Meddegoda filed a writ petition with the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka over the issue of conversion of foreign currency earnings into Sri Lankan Rupees.
The BASL has named Finance Minister – Basil Rajapaksa, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka – Ajith Nivard Cabraal and the Monetary Board of the Central Bank as respondents in the petition.
The Petitioners state that such draconian measures of forcefully converting or threatening to convert the foreign currency of Attorneys at Law who are members of the BASL amounts to a form of expropriation of private property which is both unconstitutional and wholly illegal and which cannot be sanctioned in law.