Public Service Commission interdicts Solicitor General

• SG interdicted with immediate effect as leaked phone recording inquiry begins
• Senior Additional SG appointed acting head of Civil Division at AG’s Office
• Calls between SG and Avant Garde chief of recent origin, sources in Department say

By Chandani Kirinde  

Solicitor General (SG) Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe was interdicted with immediate effect by the Public Service Commission (PSC) yesterday, as it began an inquiry into a leaked telephone

Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe

conversation between the SG and Avant Garde Maritime Services Limited Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi. The PSC decision came a day after the Attorney General requested the Commission to hold an inquiry, following the leak of a recorded phone conversation between Wickramasinghe and Senadhipathi, who was recently indicted in the high seas arms trafficking case.

An official of the AG’s Department said that they were informed of the interdiction by the PSC.

Prior to the PSC decision, the AG had relieved Wickramasinghe of her duties in the Department by assigning Senior Additional Solicitor General Sanjaya Rajaratnam as Acting Head of the Civil Division.

Senadhipathi, who is facing charges under the Firearms Ordinance and the Penal Code, and was indicted by the AG’s Department earlier this month, is evading arrest and is reportedly overseas.  In the leaked phone conversation, which officials say is of recent origin, the SG is heard saying that she regrets the legal action taken against the Avant Garde Chairman. Wickramasinghe has admitted she was the person on the phone with Senadhipathi, but said the conversation has been “edited” to give a wrong picture. In a post on social media, Wickramasinghe, who was once the former Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption, challenged the Avant Garde Chairman to release the entire conversation, and also reveal the name of the Minister who had asked him to call her.

The leaked recording comes less than two weeks after the AG filed indictment before a Trial-At-Bar against 13 persons, including Avant Garde Maritime Services Ltd. Chairman Senadhipathi, for illegally operating a merchant vessel ship, and carrying 813 unlicensed automatic weapons and 200935 rounds of live ammunitions on board the Ship MV Avant Garde in and around October 2015.