By Sanjaya Dassanayake
(Lanka-e-News -25.Jan.2026, 11.30 PM) An open discussion is now unfolding on social media about the biased behaviour of the Attorney General in the crimes and special cases that occurred during the previous government, and the Minister of Justice’s sleepiness and disregard for the people’s aspirations.
According to Harshana Nanayakkara, the Justice Minister of the NPP government, he does not believe the information being read about the Attorney General on social media. If he is asked about judicial affairs or the Attorney General and the Attorney General's Department, he gives arrogant answers. According to him, he does not see any fault in the Attorney General.
Harshana Nanayakkara seems to have forgotten that he holds the position of Justice Minister in an NPP government that came to power due to a social media campaign. Although a leftist, he is the son of a brother of Vasudeva Nanayakkara, who fell into the lap of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and was a part of his corrupt and criminal governments. He seems to have forgotten that after former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted in a popular struggle in 2022, the foundation for the formation of an NPP government led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.
The Attorney General is the person who is responsible for the activities of the entire Attorney General's Department. The majority of those who voted for the NPP government are now stating that the way the Attorney General's Department and its current Attorney General, Parinda Ranasinghe, have behaved in certain specific cases is very detrimental to the current NPP government, including President Anura Dissanayake.
It is no secret that the people of this country have given the NPP government with more than 2/3 parliamentary power due to the promise made before the people before the last presidential election to properly punish the serious crimes, including murders, disappearances, fraud and corruption that occurred during the government's rule, and the people of this country have approved it from the top.
However, the current Attorney General's behaviour is leading to a situation where the government is unable to fulfil the main political promise of the government, which is to properly punish the crimes, corruption and fraud of the Rajapaksa regime.
Below are just a few examples of the current Attorney General's failure to fulfil the government's major political promise, delaying the implementation of the law against the Rajapaksas and those very close to them, and failing to take legal action against them.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was sworn in as acting president after Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned from the presidency on 14 July 2022, and later became the 9th President of Sri Lanka on 20 July 2022, served as the President of Sri Lanka until Anura Kumara Dissanayake became the country's 10th Executive President on 21 September 2024.
During his presidency, Ranil Wickremesinghe has made 23 foreign trips, spending more than 600 million rupees ($2 million; £1.4 million). By then, Sri Lanka had officially been declared a bankrupt state.
In August 2023, he returned to England on his way back from a United Nations session in the United States and an official visit to Cuba, where he attended an honorary degree ceremony for his wife, Maithri Wickremesinghe. Wickremesinghe is accused of spending 42,000 British pounds or 16.4 million rupees of Sri Lankan public money, on his personal trip over two days.
Parinda Ranasinghe (Junior) is the Attorney General appointed by Ranil at the request of Tiran Alles, the Minister of Public Security, who represented the Mahinda Rajapaksa camp immediately after he became President. Tiran Alles is the representative appointed to Ranil's cabinet at the request of Gotabaya Rajapaksa to protect the Rajapaksa clique. President Ranil appointed Parinda Ranasinghe as the Attorney General on July 12, 2022, to the needs of the Rajapaksa clique, replacing Ayesha Jinasena, who was known as a senior, honest, and straightforward officer.
For this reason, internal sources in the Attorney General's Department say that the Attorney General is reluctant to proceed with the case filed against Ranil Wickremesinghe by the Police Financial Crimes Division on charges of misappropriation of state funds.
However, investigations conducted by the Police Financial Crimes Division officers in England have confirmed that there was no official invitation from the British government for Ranil Wickremesinghe's trip to England. Whatever the Attorney General says, the question of whose side the Attorney General is on will be answered on Ranil's next court date.
After C D Wickramaratne retired as IGP on November 25, 2023, Tiran Alles requested Ranil Wickremesinghe to appoint Deshabandu Tennakoon as IGP at the behest of the Rajapaksas.
President Ranil, a puppet played by the Rajapaksas’ parliamentary group, appointed Deshabandu Tennakoon as the 36th IGP of Sri Lanka when there were several senior DIGs who were qualified for the post of IGP.
The deep state understood the path that Ranil had laid before the government, that in order to escape the allegations against the Rajapaksas and themselves, both the Attorney General and the IGP must be obedient to them. That is why Deshabandu, his obedient dog, was made the IGP. But Deshabandu's CCD gang, who had gone to fulfil a personal contract of Tiran Alles, opened fire on the W15 Hotel in Weligama.
Later, Deshabandu, who was on remand, was released on bail and left the court in contempt of court. At that time, Matara Magistrate Aruna Indrajith Buddhadasa ordered the Attorney General's Department to file a separate case against Deshabandu before the Court of Appeal on the charge of contempt of court. However, the Attorney General has not yet complied with the Matara Magistrate's order.
In the W15 case, the Matara Magistrate also ordered that the links between former IGP Deshabandu, the then Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles and the CCD officers involved in the shooting be investigated and reported to the court.
The actual incident of this incident was a dispute over a piece of land on Darly Road in Maradana that had been given to the W15 hotel chain by the government for investment. This land, which had been given to the W15 hotel chain, had been given to the then Minister of Public Security, Tiran Alles, by using state power, and a personal dispute had arisen between the owner of W15, Hardy Jamaldeen, and Tiran Alles, the Minister of Public Security.
Meanwhile, a dispute had also arisen between Deshabandu and Jamaldeen as Deshabandu suspected that Hardi Jamaldeen, the owner of the W15 Hotel and a member of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board at the time, had leaked information that Deshabandu Tennakoon had received a salary as a security consultant from the Sri Lanka Cricket while he was in the police service. Therefore, information has come to light that a team from the Colombo Crimes Division was deployed at the request of Tiran and Deshabandu to carry out this attack.
The then Acting IGP, Priyantha Weerasuriya, testified before the parliamentary commission held to investigate the allegations against Deshabandu Tennakoon that the W15 shooting was a joint action of Tiran and Deshabandu. However, neither the Attorney General's Department nor Priyantha Weerasuriya's police have taken any action against Tiran Alles.
Mangala Samaraweera, Sripathi Suriyarachchi and Tiran Alles publicly stated that Basil Rajapaksa, with Mahinda Rajapaksa's consent, paid hundreds of millions of rupees as bribes to the LTTE organisation in exchange for boycotting the North-East elections to defeat Ranil Wickremesinghe and ensure Mahinda Rajapaksa's victory in the 2005 presidential election. Mangala and Sripathi are no longer alive, but Tiran remains.
Tiran Alles was the chairman of the RADA organization established to provide state funds to the LTTE. The case heard in the High Court on this matter was withdrawn by the Attorney-General's Department. The Attorney General's Department had to acquit the suspects led by Tiran Alles after the Attorney General stated before the court that he would not proceed with the case. But even though the Attorney General's Department has ample opportunity to reopen this case, the Attorney General has not yet taken any action against Tiran Alles or the Rajapaksas.
As is known, an investigation is underway into the building in Rajagiriya, which was rented by the Ministry of Agriculture for crores of rupees during the Yahapalana government and is said to belong to famous actress Sabitha Perera.
However, it is not known that a formal investigation has been initiated by the Police Financial Crimes Division or the Bribery and Corruption Investigation Commission into the famous E-VISA transaction carried out by Tiran Alles as the Minister of Public Security. It cannot be said that the Attorney General's Department is not involved in this either.
The case against 9 military intelligence officers in the abduction and disappearance of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda, which is being heard before a three-judge bench, is now appearing to be stalled. The case was last scheduled for a hearing on December 19th. However, Ms Sandhya Eknaligoda recently posted the following on her Facebook account. (Excerpt)
''Prageeth, today is January 14th, 2026. In exactly ten days, the 16th year of being taken away from us will be completed. 2025. I started 2026 with more challenges than when the year began, and I spent these few days.
When 2025 began, the bench of judges in the case in the Colombo Permanent Three-Judge High Court was complete and the court proceedings were conducted successfully and satisfactorily. So, I started that year with great hope.
But by the last quarter of 2025, the work of the judiciary was again hampered by the vacancy of judges. The last day of the year 2025 of the permanent three-member court was December 19. Even on that day, judges had not been appointed. I was saddened and surprised. All the while, I had seen in the media about the ability and lawfulness of the current Chief Justice. Surprisingly, he has also missed us.'' (End of quote)
The current system is to nominate judges to the High Courts with the approval of the President, who are nominated by the ''Judicial Service Commission'' consisting of Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, Supreme Court Judges Mahinda Samayawardena and S. Thurairajah. Although it is the Minister of Justice's duty to investigate the reasons for the delay, he seems to have no interest in investigating why such exceptional cases are delayed.
Although the NPP government had promised more than ten or a thousand times during the election platforms to expose Wasim Thajudeen's killers before coming to power, it seems that Thajudeen's death has now become just a topic for occasional news.
The Sri Lankan police stated that "Kajja" aka Anura Vidanagamage, who was shot dead in the Middeniya area, was in the vehicle that chased rugby player Wasim Thajudeen before he was killed. The police also stated that this information was revealed after questioning 'Backo Saman', a member of the Rajapaksa underworld gang suspected of planning the murder of 'Kajja', and after a statement given by Kajja's widow.
However, none of this information has come before a court to date. If these are not just fabricated news and creations to mislead the people, the progress of the Thajudeen murder investigations should be revealed to the country. Although 'Kajja' alias Anura Vidanagama revealed to a journalist about a year before his death that he was the last link in the Thajudeen murder gang, it is possible that those who should protect the law did not pay any attention to that information because they knew that Kajja's life would be ended very soon by those who expected Thajudeen's death.
By now, all those who carried out this murder have died mysteriously. Also, all the police officers who disappeared information about Thajudeen's murder at the behest of the Rajapaksas have fled the country.
The murder of journalist Lasantha Wickramatunga is also a topic that has been discussed in the NPP election platform. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested five Army Intelligence officers in 2017 after a lengthy investigation on suspicion of the murder committed by members of the Army Intelligence Unit on 8 January 2009.
They had served at the Tripoli Camp in Colombo, which was used by a special Army Intelligence Unit, and the then Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka had publicly stated that this special Tripoli unit of the Army was under the direct supervision of the then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The CID later uncovered that members of the Tripoli Camp in Colombo, which was directly commanded by Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had been involved in several serious crimes such as assaults, kidnappings and killings of journalists. The main crimes include the assault on journalist Keith Noyar, the assault on Rivira editor Upali Tennakoon, the assault on journalist Poddala Jayantha, the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunga and the disappearance of Prageeth Eknaligoda.
Police Inspector Nishantha Silva of the Criminal Investigation Department, who fled the country after receiving death threats after Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president in 2019 and investigated the murder of Lasantha, testified before the International Criminal Court that Defence Secretary Gotabaya was directly behind the murder.
He stated that the Defence Secretary clearly had a motive for Lasantha’s murder because he had exposed the corrupt MiG aircraft deal. However, even under the government of Anura Dissanayake, who vowed to punish Lasantha's killers, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is suspected of being the killer of Lasantha, has not been arrested for any crime, let alone summoned to the police or court to give a statement. The fact that he has retired without even a single injury is a grave injustice to those who were killed and disappeared on his orders.
The skeletons of 155 people believed to be members of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) who were killed during the 88-89 terror period were found in a mass grave in the Matale hospital grounds in 2013.
Based on testimonies received from the people of Matale and the book ‘Gota’s War’ written by journalist C A Chandraprema with the approval of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, it is written that the 1st Gajaba Regiment led by Colonel Gotabaya Rajapaksa carried out a successful operation to suppress the JVP in Matale during the 88-89 terror period. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has not denied it so far.
But the then CID under Gotabaya intervened and falsely reported to the court that these skeletons did not belong to the 88-89 terror period and suppressed the incident. But the surprise is that Gotabaya is still enjoying his freedom even though a JVP government has come to power.
The ruling party only talks about Shiranthi Rajapaksa's famous ''Siriliya-Saviya'' account in Parliament. There is nothing beyond that. Shiranthi Rajapaksa is doing the 'nanny' work for Namal's children as usual. Although Anura Dissanayake used to attack the Rajapaksas from the opposition then, today, under President Anura's government, the Rajapaksas are going around the country doing their usual politics.
A case is currently being heard against Basil Rajapaksa, who stole billions of rupees from the country's public funds while serving as the Minister of Economic Development and Finance in the governments of Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya. This case has been filed against Basil Rajapaksa and four others for purchasing a land in Brownshill, Matara, for 50 million rupees. Basil, who is in the United States, is avoiding coming to Sri Lanka by submitting fake medical reports. Also, this case is heard only twice or thrice a year. It is being called to postpone the case.
In the case of the Malwane mansion built for Rs. 240 million on a 16-acre land worth Rs. 60 million belonging to Basil Rajapaksa, which was assigned to the Pugoda Magistrate's Court, no one came forward to claim rights to the house.
The architect named Muditha Jayakody, who was in charge of the construction of this mansion, told the court that someone else had credited the money to his account for the construction of this house and that the money did not belong to him. During the construction of the mansion, Basil's wife Pushpa Rajapaksa had visited it and inspected the construction frequently. However, due to the case, Basil abandoned the mansion, saying that it was not his. The court did not go further, and the magistrate decided to auction the mansion.
Despite the ample evidence to re-hear the land and mansion case, it seems that neither the Attorney General’s Department nor the NPP government wants to put Basil Rajapaksa in trouble.
In February 2025, the Attorney General filed an indictment under the Money Laundering Act against Yoshitha Rajapaksa and his grandmother, Daisy Forest Wickramasinghe, who is said to be 98 years old, at the Colombo High Court. It was filed in relation to a joint account of Rs. 59 million belonging to the two.
Following investigations conducted since 2016, after it was found that Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the second son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation regarding the funds, the police had filed charges against both of them under the Money Laundering Act, but it has now been revealed in court that Yoshitha Rajapaksa’s grandmother is suffering from a condition called ‘dementia’. Therefore, the magistrate has summoned a medical report on her condition. Due to this, Yoshitha Rajapaksa is also scheduled to be released from the case in a few days.
Although if another ordinary person is sued under the Money Laundering Act, the properties belonging to the accused are temporarily frozen, Yoshitha's properties have not been frozen.
A few months ago, there was a huge controversy over the 15-room luxurious house built in the name of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on the banks of the Menik River at Depot Road, Wanaraja Place, Kataragama. The police took evidence about this house from Yoshitha Rajapaksa, the former chairman of the Kataragama Pradeshiya Sabha, and the Navy soldiers who were guarding it, and no one could claim ownership of this house built using Army soldiers.
Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a statement stating that the name of Gotabaya Rajapaksa on the water bill was not his and that the house did not belong to him. Surprisingly, the investigations stopped there under this government as well. Until Gotabaya himself stated the house, the police or any law enforcement agency of the government did not ask Gotabaya Rajapaksa a single word about the Kataragama house. It seems that the investigators are also doing their job strangely, while the President and the relevant ministers say that they will not interfere with the investigating agencies, including the police.
Journalist Nirmala Kannangara revealed about two months ago that the information presented that Namal Rajapaksa obtained an LLB degree from a university in England before entering the Sri Lanka Law School was false and that he was fraudulently abusing power in order to enter the law school. However, it is not known that an investigation is being conducted into this.
In addition, Thushara Jayaratne, who wrote the law final exam with Namal Rajapaksa, alleged that he wrote the law final exam alone in a room with computer facilities. No investigation has been conducted into this.
The Attorney General's Department has so far failed to implement the recommendations made to the Attorney General to prosecute those responsible for the findings of the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Easter Attacks. In addition, investigators are of the opinion that the Attorney General's Department is working very slowly in many cases related to the prosecution of the Easter Attacks.
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has ordered the owners and local representatives of the MV X-Press Pearl, which sank in the Colombo seas after a fire in 2021, causing the worst maritime disaster in Sri Lanka’s history and a massive marine plastic spill, to pay Sri Lanka $1 billion in compensation.
In this case filed by the Environmental Justice Centre against the shipping company in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, the Supreme Court ruled that the decision of former Attorney General Sanjaya Rajaratnam to file a case against the Express Pearl shipping company in Singapore instead of filing a case in this country was wrong.
It has also ordered a criminal investigation against the Attorney General, stating that there may be extensive corruption or bribery behind this decision. The current Attorney General, Parinda Ranasinghe, has not yet implemented these recommendations.
The promise of establishing an independent prosecution office to prosecute and prosecute criminals under an NPP government is still just a dream. The Attorney General and the Attorney General's Department have initially opposed this proposal.
They have opposed this proposal because if this proposal is implemented, the Attorney General's Department will lose its monopoly on the country's prosecution. The Attorney General and the Bar Association representative appointed by Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara to implement the Independent Prosecution Office proposal have opposed this proposal, making this proposal even more a dream.
In addition to the few examples given above, President Anura Dissanayake has said not once but a thousand times that the number of files locked up in the Attorney General's Department on alleged fraud, corruption and large-scale crimes committed during the previous government is 28,000. He also stated that he has more than 400 files on special cases of fraud and corruption. People's desire is to see justice served quickly.
Responding to the criticism levelled at the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General's Department through social media, he said in Parliament that he has no distrust in the work of the Attorney General and the Attorney General's Department. That is why he said that he does not care much about the allegations levelled through social media, and added that it was not the social media people who gave him ministerial positions, but President Anura, and that he would decide on his work.
Harshana Nanayakkara has forgotten the role that social media played in making Anura Dissanayake the President of Sri Lanka, even after a year of the NPP government. He has kicked the people's heartbeat, the dream of seeing a country where the law is applied equally to all. We still have a president who understands the heartbeat of the people and does not forget the roots.
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by (2026-01-25 20:55:06)
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