Justice Minister and Leader of House differ, accusations directed at BR

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Dissident SLPP MPs yesterday (17) alleged that the ruling SLPP was likely to try to dilute the Anti-Corruption Bill at the committee stage tomorrow (19). SLPP MP Gevindu Cumaratunga said so when The Island asked whether the Opposition was confident that Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, wouldn’t permit SLPP amendments that were contrary to the Bill approved by Parliament without a division on 06 July.

Cumaratunga, the leader of Yuthukama civil society group, said that Justice Minister Rajapakse had taken a principled stand when Leader of the House and Education Minister Susil Premjayantha on behalf of the SLPP ought to prevent Parliament taking a decision on the vital Bill, which had been cleared by the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms, chaired by Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakse on 22 June.

Minister Premjayantha was flanked by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Chief Government Whip Prasanna Ranatunga.MP Cumaratunga said that Minister Rajapakse had accommodated Committee Stage amendments to the Bill, proposed by the Opposition.

The MP said that the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Just and Law-Abiding Society, chaired by W. D. J. Seneviratne, MP, discussed the Bill at length on 05 July, on the first day of the debate on the Bill. The Committee Stage Amendments incorporated were examined by the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Just and Law-Abiding Society.

“We believed that following the Second Reading of the Anti-Corruption Bill on the following day, 06 July, it could be passed unanimously as all political parties, represented in Parliament, repeatedly assured their commitment to an all-out drive against corruption,” he said.

Against that background, the Opposition was quite distraught when the Leader of the House made an unexpected move to block the Bill, claiming the SLPP wanted to further improve it, MP Cumaratunga said.

The SLPP would probably could have stymied the Bill if not for the strong stand taken by the Opposition, with Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa seeking an explanation from the Minister in charge of the subject, Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, to state his position.

Minister Rajapakse declared that having toiled for over 10 months to finalize the Bill he didn’t see as to why it should be put off again. The one-time President of the Bar Association said that he had never worked so hard to prepare a Bill. Having compared the Anti-Corruption Bill and the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, enacted in last October, Minister Rajapaksa declared that the former posed quite a challenge.

MP Cumaratunga said that following the Justice Minister’s declaration, the Leader of the House accepted the Opposition proposal to pass pending the Committee Stage on 19 July.Both Sajith Premadasa and Rajitha Senaratne questioned whether SLPP de facto Chief Basil Rajapaksa was behind this move. Referring to the now disrupted move to restore Local Government bodies at the behest of Basil Rajapaksa, through the intervention of Parliament, Opposition Leader Premadasa asked whether the former Finance Minister wanted to sabotage the Anti-Corruption Bill.

Dr. Senaratne advised Premajayantha not to take up such contracts as the Bill was the responsibility of the Justice Minister.SLPP MP Chandima Jayakody alleged that the ruling party was in the process of ‘killing’ the remaining investigations, handled by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).

During a heated argument between Premjayantha and Communist Party MP Weerasumana Weerasinghe, the former said that the CP man, as a newcomer to the Parliament, was not aware of how proceedings dragged on. Lawmaker Weerasinghe hit back hard questioning the integrity of those who represented Parliament for a period of over two decades.

MP Cumaratunga questioned the need for the SLPP to propose further amendments after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Bill. Pointing out that there were nearly 60 amendments that consensus had been reached, following deliberations, MP Cumaratunga warned of dire consequences if the SLPP sought to present amendments not vetted.