Sri Lanka: Supreme Court judge charged for corruption counter-charges lawyer for contempt

Judicial Corruption in Sri Lanka 

( January 19, 2018, Sri Lanka Guardian) Supreme Court Judge Vijith Malalgoda charged for corruption by activist Nagananda Kodituwakku for abuse of office to favour former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has now charged the lawyer for contempt in the Supreme Court.

Activist Nagananda fights back 

When the matter was taken up last week (16th January 2018) the activist lawyer filed in Court an affidavit setting out the basis for the charges leveled against justice Malalgoda then the President of the Court of Appeal. 

Justice Malalgoda is alleged to have abused the office to favour President Rajapakse

The activist alleged in the affidavit filed in Court, that there was a Writ Application in the Court of Appeal by him on 15thDec 2014, challenging the nomination of the former president Rajapaksa who was a candidate of the Presidential Election  – 2015 which was due on 08th Jan 2015, with a request made to the Court to support the matter before the commencement of the Court vacation (which was due on 20th of Dec 2014) considering the urgency of the matter.  However, surprisingly it went missing from the Court of Appeal Registry.

The activist states that when President Rajapaksa was facing a formidable challenge from the opposition Presidential Candidate Maithripala Sirisena, the case record, which disappeared after filing, was suddenly listed for support on 2nd Jan 2015 during the Court Vacation and strangely the Attorney General hand-delivered a letter to his residential address on 01stJan 2015, a practice never adopted by the Attorney General under normal circumstances. He states that by that time there were numerous requests from many concerned citizens to withdraw the case claiming that the Presidential Election would be postponed in the event the activist proceed with the action, granting of the interim relief prayed for throwing a life-line to Mahinda Rajapakse to remain in power. Therefore, respecting the popular demand he filed a motion dated 02nd Jan 2015 withdrawing the Petition with the following submission made to the Court.

Nagananda Kodituwakku

“… Whereas since the filing of this Petition, the Petitioner believes that the public opinion on the Extant President has been evidently eroded and in this background the Petitioner contemplates that the Attorney General who performs his office under the Extant President would have been instructed to concede the Interim Relief prayed for in the Petition to suspend the holding of the Presidential Election scheduled for 08thJan 2015 until the final determination of this Petition, effectively throwing a life-line to the Extant President to remain in Office for a considerable period, against the Will of the People that has been expressed by both in the electronic and print media since filling of this Petition … ”

“… And whereas in this background the Petitioner believes that the Petition filed in the national Interest could be defeated if preceded with it, the Petitioner withdraws the Petition, with due respect to the Will of the people and their Sovereignty that would determine their choice through the exercise of their franchise at the forthcoming Presidential Election…”

The Activist states that therefore he lost the confidence in Justice Vijith Malalgoda and on 20th May 2015 when he was due to appear before Justice Malalgoda in another case  (CA/Writs/83/2014) he filed a Motion requesting the Court to refer the matter to a different Bench. That request was intentionally made to avoid the relevant submission being mentioned in the open Court to avoid unpleasant situation.  Yet, justice Malalgoda declined the said request and called the matter before him on 20th May 2015 and informed the lawyer Nagananda that as the President of the Court of Appeal he would hear the matter by himself. Therefore the activist was compelled to inform justice Malalgoda in the open court that he had lost trust and confidence in him and therefore to appoint a different bench to hear the said case.  

Supreme Court Judge Vijith Malalgoda

The lawyer Nagananda says that thereafter the matter was referred to the Chief Justice Sripavan by justice Malalgoda with an allegation of contempt made against him and he too made a written submission to Chief Justice explaining the reasons and on 28th June 2016 the matter was resolved by the Chief Justice with the case case  (CA/Writs/83/2014) referred o another bench.  

Justice Malalgoda charged for judicial corruption

The Activist Lawyer Nagananda states that he thereafter charged justice Malalgoda for Judicial Corruption for abuse of office to favor Mahinda Rajapkse and now the matter (SC/Writs/3/2016) is pending before the Supreme Court. 

Contempt charges against activist violate UN basic principles on the role of lawyers

The activist states that therefore the contemptuous proceedings initiated against him for legitimate criticism of the performance of the judicial office of Justice Vijith Malalgoda is inappropriate and it violates Commonwealth Latimer House principles and the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.

2018-01-16-AFFIDAVIT.pdf by Thavam on Scribd