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.

Sri Lanka yesterday (05) received eight fully equipped mobile workshops from South Korea. A spokesperson for the South Korean mission here said that the mobile workshops would strengthen Sri Lanka’s ability to maintain and repair essential medical equipment. The mobile workshops would provide on-site repair and maintenance services to ensure that hospitals and clinics, particularly in remote areas, have fully functional medical devices, she said.

According to the Embassy, the donation of the mobile workshop and biomedical engineering equipment is part of a $7.2 million biomedical engineering capacity-building project launched in 2019.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday (5) declared that structural reforms would be implemented in the Customs Department to establish an institutional framework that aligns with contemporary needs of the country.

The President made these remarks during a discussion held with the senior officials of Customs yesterday at the Presidential Secretariat concerning the Budget-2025 and the institutional restructuring.

The discussion also addressed critical issues such as inefficiencies, fraud, corruption and public dissatisfaction with the current functioning of the Department.

In response to these challenges, President Dissanayake emphasised the adoption of new technologies aimed at accelerating departmental operations and enhancing service delivery efficiency.

The new restructuring plans for the department were thoroughly discussed, during which President Dissanayake directed the officials to enforce stringent laws aimed at eliminating inefficiencies in the Department.

Furthermore, the President emphasized the need for expediting human resource management, recruitment processes, and the acceleration of infrastructure development.

The President also acknowledged the revenue targets successfully achieved by Customs in the previous year and highlighted the necessary measures that the Customs Department must adopt to achieve the revenue target for the current year.

The Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Dr. Anil Jayantha Fernando; Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake; Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Mahinda Siriwardana; Senior Additional Secretary to the President, Russel Aponsu; Director General of Sri Lanka Customs, P.B.S.C. Nonis; along with a group of senior officials from Customs, also participated in this discussion.