Outspoken MP Hirunika Premachandra stole the limelight in Parliament this week with a bold and blistering speech pouring out her anger and frustration over a whirl of speculation on an attempt to grant a Presidential Pardon to former MP Duminda Silva.
It was obvious that she was disturbed by the speculation that moves are underway to Pardon her arch-rival Duminda Silva, who was convicted after having found guilty for the murder of her father Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra.
She waged an arduous legal battle against former Defence Ministry Monitoring MP Duminda Silva, who had a lot of clout under the previous Rajapaksa administration, to finally mete out justice in the Colombo High Court in September 2016 and to seal it up in the Supreme Court in October last year.
Signing petitions
The young lawyer, recalling that those historical court rulings upheld the independence of judiciary, expressed her disappointment on the attempts to undermine them. In an emotionally-charged 20-minute speech, UNP MP Premachandra took the government to task for allegedly premeditating to release “a dominant drug baron in the country” serving life sentence.
“This is no longer a personal issue of mine. Whether Duminda Silva is now in the prison hospital for no other illness but obesity due to homemade food, whether he gets preferential treatment and whether he is allowed to go home once in a while are not of my concern. He is continuing illicit drug business from within the prison.
“He helps to pay the fine of other prisoners involved in minor drug offences and uses them as agents to continue his illegal business. President Sirisena after his recent visit to the Philippines vowed to wage a war against the drug menace. What will happen to the youth of this country if former MP Silva comes out of prison?”, a seemingly irate MP Premachandra questioned in a hard-hitting speech.
She said that she has reliable information and evidence that a group of people were going from house to house collecting signatures for a petition in the Colombo district, including Kolonnawa, to get a Presidential Pardon to former MP Silva on Independence Day.
Sharp criticism
However, MP Premachandra pointed out that the law requires the recommendation of the Attorney General, the Justice Minister and the judges who convicted former MP Silva to proceed with a Presidential Pardon. “I am convinced that Justice Minister Thalatha Athukorala is a woman with integrity who cannot be bought over. But I do not know whether the others will find a way to circumvent this law,” she remarked.
If former MP Silva is pardoned, Premachandra cautioned, other prisoners convicted for drug trafficking and serious crimes would also seek similar redresses. “How are you going to handle the situation then?,” she asked.
“After seeing the series of unconstitutional acts on and after October 26, I have enough reason to believe that Duminda Silva would also be granted a Pardon,” she said emitting her sad feelings.
She was taking the floor during the debate on the Commissions of Inquiry (Amendment) Bill, which the President had a special interest in. Her speech, though a divergence from the topic of fighting bribery and corruption, made all in the Chamber and the gallery sit up and take notice.
CIABOC gets more teeth
The Bill before the House that day was meant to widen the powers of the Bribery Commission to file cases based on the facts revealed by Commissions of Inquiry (CoI). An interesting debate ensued with many who took the floor complaining on the sluggish pace of legal actions against those accused of bribery and corruption.
It was encouraging to see that the legislation received the unanimous nod of the House, despite the fact that both the main parties are marred with MPs mired in corruption charges. According to the Amendments, Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) gets the power to file cases under the Bribery Act or Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Law based on the findings of Commissions of Inquiry appointed by the President. The main purpose of the Bill is to avoid witnesses being re-called before the CIABOC, thus circumventing undue delays in the legal system.
Parliament took up the CoI Amendment Bill hot on the heels of President Sirisena appointing a new CoI to probe allegations of large scale corruption and fraud between January 15, 2015-December 31, 2018. The new Commission is said to be the next step of the PRECIFAC which inquired into the allegations of serious acts of fraud, corruption and abuse of power, state resources and privileges from January 10, 2010 to January 10, 2015.
The PRECIFAC presented its final report on January 2, 2018. The report, which deals with 34 specific cases, has named the wrongdoers in each case and has also recommended the actions against them.
The financial irregularities in SriLankan and Mihin Lanka Airlines and SriLankan Catering Ltd. are also being probed by a CoI appointed by the President on January 31, 2018. The amendment to the CoI Act came to the fore when legal barriers on taking action against those responsible in the Bond scam surfaced.
The much talked-of ‘Bond Report’ produced following thorough investigation by a CoI was handed over to the President in December 2017.
“Follow up actions a must”
Dispelling doubts harboured by some, Justice Minister Thalatha Athukorala assured that the Bill applies with retrospective effect. This means that the CIABOC can now re-open 30 odd CoI reports which had been gathering dust on the shelves with no substantial progress.
JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti, who joined in the debate soon after receiving the mantle of COPE Chairmanship for the third time, emphasised the importance of following up the recommendations in the hefty reports of CoI and parliamentary watchdog committees if the country to yield the expected results from them. “Otherwise the time and effort to produce those reports are wasted,” he commented.
Noteworthy, the JVP’s stake in the 16-member COPE has significantly reduced from four to one this time as the UPFA chose to sit in the Opposition as one group. Given the active contribution of the JVP MPs in the parliamentary watchdog committees, this was disheartening news. MP Handunnetti is the only JVP representative in the new COPE which got down to work this week. He tabled another COPE report in Parliament on Thursday putting a spotlight on staggering losses in several key public enterprises including the SriLankan Airlines.
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