A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, January 20, 2018
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.
“… 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.
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