BANKING INQUIRY IN CEYLON

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27395, 7 July 1954, Page 12

BANKING INQUIRY IN CEYLON

Governor-Designate May Be Questioned

COLOMBO, July 5. The Speaker of the Ceylon House of Representatives today accepted an Opposition notice of motion that the Queen be recommended to defer the appointment of Sir Oliver Goonetilleke as Governor-General of Ceylon. The motion proposed that the deferment should last until allegations against Mr U. Jayawardehe, Governor of the Central Bank, were investigated, as Mr Goonetilleke might be asked to explain certain of his actions when he was Minister of Finance. The Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sir John Kotelawala) 'has asked the present Governor-General (Lord Soulbury) to suspend Mr Jayawardene from office from today, says an official communique. . He has also recommended the Gov-ernor-General to set up a commissiofi of inquiry. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr R. D. Bandaranaike) requested that the motion be debated before July 17, when Sir Oliver Goonetilleke is expected to take over his duties as GovernorGeneral.

At this morning’s meeting of the Government Parliamentary group a proposal was also made that Sir Oliver Goonetilleke’s appointment be deferred until the Jayawardene inquiry is over. Sir John Kotelawala told the meeting that there was no charge against Sir Oliver Goonetilleke to defer his appointment. The Prime Minister promised that when the case of the Bank Governor was investigated all the guilty parties would be punished.