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Wednesday, 7 December 2016 00:11 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has commenced an inquiry against present Chief Justice K. Sripavan, four former chief justices and a few other judges for alleged judicial corruption.
CIABOC commenced the inquiry following a complaint lodged by lawyer Nagananda Kodituwakku on 15 February 2016 stating that independent investigation conducted by him had revealed that those who held high office in the Judiciary had abused their positions and had committed judicial corruption.
“Corruption in the Judiciary is also a punishable criminal offence under Section 70 of the Bribery Act No. 19 of 1994,” he had stated in his complaint to CIABOC.
In his complaint he had requested CIABOC to take action against former chief justices Sarath N. Silva, Shirani Bandaranayake, Mohan Peiris and Parinda Ranasinghe and present Chief Justice K. Sripavan for committing judicial corruption.
In the complaint to CIABOC, the lawyer stated the inappropriate behaviour and conduct of Chief Justice Silva who had conceded abuse of office by favouring former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
“Sarath N. Silva had confessed to the BBC Sinhala Service recently that he had delivered the judgment to confer a favour to President Rajapaksa, an act which is clearly tantamount to judicial corruption,” he stated, adding that Silva had apologised to the country in mid-October 2014 for his verdict in the ‘Helping Hambantota’ case that paved the way for Rajapaksa to contest the Presidential Election in 2005.
In the complaint, the lawyer accused former Chief Justice Mohan Peiris of favouring President Rajapaksa and seeking unlawful favours from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe after the 2015 elections and former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake for betraying the trust placed in her by the people by allowing President Rajapaksa to abolish the Constitutional Council and have firm control in the selection and appointment process of judges to the superior court system. He also accused present Chief Justice K. Sripavan of expressing his opinion on the National List appointments in favour of the new government, which the lawyer challenged in the Supreme Court in public interest on 13 October 2015.
Kodituwakku has also requested CIABOC to investigate judicial corruption involving the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Parinda Ranasinghe during former President J. R. Jayewardene’s rule.
He has stated that overwhelming evidence of judicial corruption was found in the Supreme Court’s Special Determination Record (SC/SD/02/1988) dated 18 April 1988, where the total betrayal of trust placed in the Judiciary was revealed.
“The Supreme Court timorously surrendered the people’s judicial power to President J.R. Jayewardene by approving the defeated candidate to enter Parliament through the national list without referring it to the people at a referendum as the said clause clearly violated people’s sovereign right of franchise entrenched in Article 3 of the Constitution, a clause on the other hand not found in the original bill approved by the Parliament Select Committee but surreptitiously inserted within brackets in a typewritten note sent to the Chief Justice Parinda Ranasinghe by the President J.R. Jayewardene, claiming to be the 14th Amendment to the Constitution (which was not a Bill published in the gazette as required by Article 78 and 82 of the Constitution), which was accompanied by a letter dated 8 April 1988, demeaning the office of the Chief Justice, addressing the office ‘My dear Chief Justice’ ,” he noted in his complaint.
The lawyer says that all these abuses of power by those who held the office of chief justice to act for public good but abused their power by conferring favours or benefits to themselves or others fell within the offence of corruption as defined in section 70 of the Bribery Act.
Meanwhile, Daily FT learns that the Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Priyasath Dep has decided to hear the case filed by the lawyer Nagananda Kodituwakku on judicial corruption against the judges referred to in his complaint to CIABOC and at the request of the lawyer Kodituwakku the hearing has been fixed for 2 March 2017, after the retirement of Chief Justice K. Sripavan, which is due on 29 February 2017.
When contacted, CIABOC officials confirmed that a letter dated 1 December signed by Chief Inspector Ananda Perera, Head of the Bribery and Corruption Investigation Unit II of CIABOC, had been sent to Kodituwakku to appear before the unit on 15 December to make a statement on the alleged judicial corruption inquiry.
The Government will hold the National Anti-Corruption Summit this week in Colombo under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena and with the participation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The National Anti-Corruption Summit will be held at Hotel Taj Samudra in Colombo on 9 December to coincide with International Anti-Corruption Day.
The summit, organised by the Ministry of Law and Order and Southern Development, in collaboration with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC), aims to educate politicians, high rank officers in public and private sector, other relevant parties, and the general public to establish a society free of corruption, and create a discourse on eradicating bribes and corruption in society.
Minister of Law, Order, and Southern Development Sagala Ratnayake, Director General of CIABOC, local and foreign participants, politicians, public sector officials, media personnel, and civil society activists will participate in the event.
