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SJB: Prosecution without sufficient evidence should be stopped immediately
The SJB says that the President setting up of task forces saying one country, one law is akin to appointing a parallel government while the Ministry of Justice is taking action to minimize delays in litigations by expanding the judicial benches and digitalizing court processes.
Participating in the third reading debate on Budget 2022 under the expenditure heads of the Ministry of Justice SJB MP Eran Wickremaratne on Thursday said as per the constitutional provisions, the functions of the ministries should be carried out by the Cabinet of Ministers.
“We learned through the media that the Minister of Justice had resigned in protest against the appointment of a task force, ‘One Country One Law’ and the appointment of an unsuitable person for such task force which was uncalled for, it appears that a parallel government structure is being evolved.”
According to a report obtained from the Ministry of Justice, the number of court cases has increased from 775,617 in 2018 to 920,660 by 2020. Accordingly, it is observed that the number of cases in the courts of this country are increasing by about 10% annually, the MP said.
He said that the Attorney General’s Department has multiple roles and responsibilities. As one contradicts the other it is an obstacle to the independence and impartiality of that institution. The Attorney General is, on the one hand, is the Chief lawyer of the government and government departments, and on the other hand is the chief prosecutor. Accordingly, in his multiple roles the conflicts of interest are inevitable. The Attorney General himself appears in the Supreme Court, representing the Government on the constitutionality of the bills brought by the Government. It is the Attorney General who advises the government on the matters presenting to Parliament. Therefore, due to the multiple-role of the Attorney General’s Department, there is a huge potential for the AG’s department to become politicized. Under this backdrop, the MP stressed that Parliament has a responsibility to introduce a system that preserves the dignity of the Attorney General’s Department.
If the Attorney General’s Department continues to function in accordance with the current tasks assigned to it, it may lose its trust among the people. Therefore, the role of the AG as the Chief Prosecutor should be considered. The Attorney General recently withdrew a large number of cases of dozens of politicians. It was up to the courts to decide whether these people were guilty or not. Prosecuting politicians and later withdrawing them is something that does not happen with this frequency in other countries. This tarnishes the dignity of Parliament.
Therefore, if there is insufficient evidence in a case, the Attorney General’s Department should not rush to prosecute. The Attorney General who filed the case initially, following the change of a government goes to court and withdraw the case saying there was no evidence or on a technical basis is detrimental to the dignity of Parliament, the judiciary, the professionals and the country. Therefore, Wickremaratne urged the Minister of Justice to bring reforms regarding the responsibilities and roles of the Attorney General’s Department along with the legal reforms currently being carried out by the Ministry of Justice.
Hijaz Hezbollah, an Attorney-at-Law, has been detained for over 600 days under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Azath Salley was detained under the PTA without evidence for about nine months. Anaf Jazeem a teacher and a poet has been detained for 18 months. The Solicitor General told the Court that there was no objection to the grant of bail for Jazeem. These arrests and detentions are being made at the behest of the authorities without sufficient evidence, to intimidate, to silence and harass opponents.
Wickremaratne called on the Minister of Justice to focus his attention on amending the PTA which was originally brought as temporary measure which is used to keep in custody innocent people over long periods of time.
Executive Director of People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Rohana Hettiarachchi yesterday (28) said that there were three major concerns regarding the Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2026. Acknowledging the recent Supreme Court determination, in respect of the above-mentioned Bill, that three of the provisions were not consistent with the Constitution, requiring a special majority in Parliament, with one clause requiring approval by the people at a Referendum, Hettiarachchi said nonetheless PAFFREL had decided to bring their concerns to the notice of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Responding to The Island queries, Hettiarachchci said that PAFFREL sent a letter, dated 24 Sept., to President Dissanayake, regarding the issue at hand.
Petitions against the Bill was heard before a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Shiran Gooneratne, Mahinda Samayawardena and Sampath Wijeratne.
PAFFREL and Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) were among the petitioners who challenged the proposed amendments to the Anti-Corruption Act No. 9 of 2023. “We did so in public interest,” Hettiarachchchi said, adding that three major concerns were (i) the breadth of the proposed redaction power and the proposed criminalisation of certain uses of publicly accessible redacted asset declarations, particularly in relation to freedom of expression, and the public’s right to meaningfully receive and impart information (ii) raising of the State or public-corporation shareholding threshold for certain asset declaration obligations from 25% to 50%, as this could exclude officers of State-linked entities in which the State holds less than 50%, in spite of such entities exercising public functions and managing public resources and (iii)role of the Director General Ranga Dissanayake.
Hettiarachchchi emphasised that though the PARREL appreciated the way CIABOC DG handled his responsibilities, centreing of power on one person was not acceptable.
Hettiarachchi urged President Dissanayake and the 159-member government parliamentary group to pay attention to concerns raised by those who moved court against the controversial Bill and address their concerns though the Parliament received the SC determination.
An International Monetary Fund mission that visited Colombo recently warned that the proposed amendments could weaken the country’s anti-corruption framework.
The mission, led by Evan Papageorgiou, was in the country from 10 to 23 September for discussions on the seventh review of the Extended Fund Facility and the 2026 Article IV consultation. (SF)
The Supreme Court yesterday (28) dismissed two petitions filed by retired Flight Lieutenant Shantha Jayathilake against Deputy Inspector General of Police of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Shani Abeysekara and Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security Ravi Seneviratne, and Rev. Father Cyril Gamini, alleging them of committing contempt of court.
They were the first cases dealt by the Supreme Court after the enactment of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.
The recipient of gallantry medal alleged that contempt of court had been committed through an affidavit previously submitted to the Supreme Court by Shani Abeysekara and Ravi Seneviratne.
The other petition alleged that contempt of court had been committed through the contents of a complaint submitted to the Criminal Investigation Department by Rev. Father Cyril Gamini.
The Supreme Court ordered that both petitions be dismissed without being taken up for hearing.
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) yesterday (28) named former Minister and leader of the SLPP parliamentary group Namal Rajapaksa as the fourth suspect in the Krrish case before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court.
The MP was named as the fourth suspect in the wake of the arrest and remanding of former Executive Officer and Director of the Krrish Group, Janaki Siriwardena, regarding the payment of Rs. 70 mn to Namal Rajapaksa to facilitate the land transaction. Police arrested Ms. Siriwardena on 24 September and she was remanded till 6 Oct. pending investigations.
The investigation focuses on 4.3 acre land development in the Fort area that began in the 2013-2014 period. Investigations were launched in 2016 by the Yahapalana government, following a complaint lodged by Wasantha Samarasinghe, now a Minister in the current Cabinet.
The Indian company in this controversy is Krrish Transworks Colombo (Pvt.) Ltd .
The CIABOC named Namal Rajapaksa as a suspect in the Krrish case while he was remanded over two cases in respect of Airbus bribery probe. (SF)
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