Sri Lanka’s president has appointed an official previously accused of negligence by a judicial inquiry to lead the central bank, after the ex-governor resigned amid worsening crisis.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa asked former senior deputy governor P Nandalal Weerasinghe to head the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). Weerasinghe was criticised for his conduct – but not found to have committed crimes – by a judicial inquiry into insider dealing at the central bank under a former governor.

Weerasinghe told