(Lanka-e-News -09.Feb.2016, 8.00PM) In Sri Lanka the issues attendant when appointing an Attorney General (AG) are still unresolved. The issues have proliferated as a result of the politicization of the AG’s department during the MaRa regime , and therefore that has become a huge problem when trying to extricate the AG’s department from that scourge .
The grave issue confronting the government of good governance is clearing this department of the ‘weeds and wild plants’ that were planted in the AG’s department which matured during the last approximately 20 years , to spread their roots during the last 9 years ,only to bud and decay before flowering along with the department due to the obnoxious politicization. The biggest hindrance and hurdles that are faced by the good governance government when trying to clear the AG’s department of these harmful weeds and wild plants are not only at the highest tier but also at the second tier of the AG’s department because those have been politicized for a long time by the Rajapakse reign so much so that irrespective of who is chosen from those higher tiers , every one of them is a shameless bootlicking Rajapakse lackey and lickspittle.
Under these circumstances , though an AG shall be appointed from the outside to change the present ‘negative’ state of affairs , but because such an action will be running counter to good governance of the present government , and those within the AG’s department are absolutely antagonistic to an outsider being brought in , this has turned into a huge dilemma.
No matter what , if the government of good governance is to progress alongside the aspirations and aims of the people , it must select an honest learned individual with a clean slate who abides by the laws , and ecshews illicit deals, for the post of AG. If not , the government of good governance will be courting disaster and annihilation while it is still young . In the circumstances , appointing the right individual to the AG post is most important and imperative.
While various ‘dealdasas’ in the government of good governance who were putting through illicit deals with the Rajapakse wheeler dealers , and are now trying to promote their personal agendas taking advantage of the present complex situation ,are seeking to fish in troubled waters ,a group of officers of the lower rung of the AG’s department had addressed a letter to Lanka e news exposing the inside facts pertaining to the AG’s department which the public are not aware . The full text of the letter is hereunder …
2016-01-07
Editor , Lanka e news
The number of cases which the AG put in cold storage without filing action even after the police have completed the investigations and sent the files to the AG’s department is 74 so far. There are 11 cases which have been forwarded by the solicitor generals with their recommendations to the AG for his signature to file cases . To file action in these cases, what is needed is only the AG’s signature , and they are held back merely because the AG has still not placed his signature.
Among these cases in cold storage are 18 most heinous crimes of murder , 3 grave robberies, and two notorious rapes . When Yuvanjana was the AG he suppressed these cases , and when he went on retirement , he handed them over to Gamlath to suppress these grave criminal cases further.
The number of cases concluded by the FCID and sent to the AG is also very large. These were kept in cold storage by Yuvanjana without taking action. This delay was mainly because Yuvanjana himslef took a long time to read them. It is usual in such instances for the AG to entrust the cases to the relevant officers , but Yuvanjana on the other hand resorted to dilatory tactics and heaped them up on the excuse that he has to read them .Most strangely , even the files that should be handed over by the FCID to the AG’s department which ought to be received by the dispatch clerk after signing had been obstructed by Yuvanjana , who insisted that they should be handed over to him personally while issuing an order to that effect. All these moves and maneuvers were because he was driven by the motive that it was his duty to save and safeguard the wrongdoers under the Rajapakse era . When Mahinda Rajapakse was in power , he directly contacted the AG at that time and gave instructions how the case shall be conducted , and Yuvanjana as his faithful bootlicking lapdog carried out his instructions to the letter. After Yuvanjana left , now Suhada Gamlath a worse bootlicking stooge has taken over as acting AG.
The report published in the Lankadeepa website recently by a journalist Manopriya Gunasekera that the SL Bar Association has announced that the next in seniority should be appointed as the AG is an absolute falsehood. The Bar association is not such a demented organization to make such a statement .A few days ago Lanka e news website posted a report in which such a notion was mentioned.
That is, the next in seniority shall become the AG. In other words Suhada Gamlath who is the most senior has to be accepted whether we like it or not even if he is the worst bootlicking stooge of Rajapakses. But this view is clearly an absolute myth.
Under the 19 th amendment the AG is appointed by the president , and for that the ratification of the constitutional council is necessary. If the rule is the next in seniority shall be appointed, there is no issue and Gamlath can be appointed who is next most senior, but the iimpediment is there exists no such law .
Seniority is an additional qualification only , and not the only qualification when appointing an AG. If seniority is the only qualification , the president and the constitutional council have no need to go on discussing , and by now Gamlath could have been appointed and the matter fiinished. But that cannot happen.
One who should become the AG must be one who respects the independence of the judiciary and acts honorably with due deference to the laws . The individual who is most suited has to be chosen from within the AG’s department . Appointing somebody from outside would be resisted even by the bugs of the department
To say Gamlath is the most senior is an absolute lie, and is based on a fallacy. For 11 years he was out of the AG’s department , in order to work as the secretary to the ministry of justice under the Rajapakse reign which is a political appointment.Hence his service as a non political officer has to be reduced by 11 years, in which case he hasn’t the seniority he claims. Moreover , how can an individual who held a political appointment for 11 years under a politician become non partisan and neutral ? Therefore Gamlath is from all angles most unsuited to wield the AG post.
If we are to write about his sordid activities as a Rajapakse political lapdog it cannot be finished even in a book . Hence let us expose a few of his atrocious activities…
It is Suhada Gamlath who is suppressing the case in which Johnston Fernando is accused of bringing an LTTE suicide bomber to Colombo to murder ex president Mahinda Rajapakse , even after the invetsigations are completely over . It was Mahinda Rajapakse who ordered Gamlath to coduct the investigation, and it was Mahinda who instructed Gamlath to suppress that case after Johnston became a minister under Mahinda’s government. Though the police invetsigations in that case are over , it is Gamlath who is still suppressing it being a Rajapakse lackey and lickspittle. If the case was duly heard , by now Johnston would not only have gone to jail , but he would have finished serving his sentence too.
Another example testifying to Gamlath’s self seeking opportunism to servilely serve the Rajapakses is the case in which six children were abducted to remand ransom by the Navy, and the killing of the children by them . At that time Shaveendra Fernando who was in the AG’s department exerted pressure not to give evidence against the Navy.
The CID officers who conducted investigations produced a B report in court against Shaveendra Fernando based on charges of exerting pressure on the witnesses .During that period what Gamlath did was instead of punishing the officers under him who used force on the witnesses , entered into a conflict with the CID officers. Gamlath went as far as to compel the CID to withdraw the B report , but the latter refused to comply.
It was the first time in SL’s history a B report was filed aganst an officer of the AG’s department. Unbelievably the case in which the Navy abducted six children to demand ransom , and finally kill them is still being suppressed most cruelly and unlawfully by Gamlath.
In addition , the pressures brought to bear by Gamlath on judges to change verdicts under the Rajapakse era are countless.
Therefore , the final conclusion is , instead of making such an individual who did the most sordid biddings during the Rajapkse era for the worst nefarious reasons ,and served as an accomplice in the Rajapakse criminalities , it is better if Mahinda Rajapakse ihimself is made the AG straight away !
By a group of officers of the AG’s department for government of good governance.
Translated by Jeff
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by (2016-02-09 14:48:37)
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