News
Lawyers undergoing security checks due to courtroom killing: No formal arrangements yet
Both assassin and accomplice posed as Attorneys-at-Law
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Outgoing President of the Bar Association, Anura Maddegoda, PC, said yesterday that formal arrangements hadn’t been put in place yet to subject lawyers to security checks.
Maddegoda emphasised the mportance of ensuring security of everyone within court premises.
The President’s Counsel said so in response to The Island query whether the BASL was agreeable to the Acting IGP Priyantha Weerasooriya’s suggestion that lawyers, too, should be subjected to security checks.
Weerasooriya, himself an Attorney-at-Law was speaking to the media outside the Hulftsdorp court complex on 19 February, morning, soon after an ex-soldier shot dead underworld kingpin Sanjeewa Samararatne, alias Ganemulle Sanjeewa, in courtroom 05 of the court complex.
Maddegoda took over the BASL leadership on 26 Sept., 2024, following the resignation of Kaushalya Navaratne, PC, over the JICA project scandal.
Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara also dealt with the need for security checks on lawyers in the wake of the Hulftsdorp assassin, later identified as a legally discharged soldier, who entered the courtroom disguised as a lawyer.
Newly elected BASL President Rajeewa Amarasuriya politely declined to comment on the issue before formally taking over the top post.
The suspected accomplice of Sanjeewa’s killer, Ishara Sewwandi, a resident of Katuwellegama, Negombo, who allegedly smuggled in the weapon used by the assassin, is also believed to have been dressed like an Attorney-at-Law. She is still at large.
There had been three previous killings in courtrooms, two of them at the Attanagalle Magistrate court in Nov., 1991. The dead were a Sub Inspector of Police who had been charged with killing 12 persons at Wavulkelle in Feb., 1990, and his father-in-law. The third killing took place in January 2004 when notorious gangster Dhammika Amarasinghe was gunned down by an Army deserter.
Dhammika Amarasinghe’s killer posed as a law student.
News
W. P. Senadheera appointed Secretary to the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has appointed W. P. Senadheera as the new Secretary to the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs.
The official appointment letter was handed over to W. P. Senadheera by the Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake on Wednesday (05) at the Presidential Secretariat.
A discussion between President Anura Kumara Disanayake and officials of the Ceylon Electricity Board was held on Wednesday (05) at the Presidential Secretariat.
The President’s attention was drawn to maintaining an uninterrupted power supply as well as the current and future prospects of the energy sector.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Power Kumara Jayakody, Secretary to the Ministry of Power, Prof. K.T.M. Udayanga Hemapala, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Mahinda Siriwardana, Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board, Dr. Thilak Siyambalapitiya, and a group of CEB officials.
News
Responsibility for collecting total Tax Revenue lies with the Inland Revenue Department – President
A meeting between President Anura Kumara Disanayake and officials of the Inland Revenue Department was held on Wednesday (05) at the Presidential Secretariat.
During the discussion, extensive attention was given to the strategies required to achieve the targeted revenue of the Inland Revenue Department for this year.
The President emphasized the necessity of a more intervention approach than the current mechanisms in place to recover uncollected revenue. The President also instructed officials to take necessary measures to ensure the full tax revenue owed to the Inland Revenue Department is collected.
The Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Dr. Anil Jayantha Fernando; the Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake; the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Mahinda Siriwardana; the Senior Additional Secretary to the President, Russel Aponsu; Acting Commissioner General of the Inland Revenue Department, R.P.H. Fernando; and several other officials from the Inland Revenue Department participated in this discussion.
W. P. Senadheera appointed Secretary to the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs
President meets with officials of the CEB
Responsibility for collecting total Tax Revenue lies with the Inland Revenue Department – President
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