AG yet to give final opinion on MCC’s constitutionality

Saturday, 15 August 2020 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Dept. official denies AG had cleared MCC agreement
Says it is still under review

The Attorney General’s Department said yesterday it was yet to give a final opinion on the legality and the constitutionality of the compact between Sri Lanka and the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

“The AG has asked the relevant stakeholders in the Government for their observations on the MCC. The AG will also take into consideration the findings of the Report of the Committee appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to study the MCC and give an opinion after studying these documents,” Department Spokesperson State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne said.

Jayaratne was reacting to media reports that came out on Thursday which sourced information from a letter dated 10 October 2018 addressed sent by the AG’s Department to MCC Chief Operating Officer Jonathan G. Nash on ‘The Legal Status of the proposed MCC Compact’.

The letter was sent in response to a communication from Nash dated 27 September 2018 on the matter.

“Having gleaned through the proposed Millennium Challenge Compact, the draft Program Implementation Agreement (PIA) as well as the Points of Discussion (without prejudice) between the negotiating parties which has been made available to me, I wish at the very onset opine that no existing laws of Sri Lanka’s inhibits the Compact and the PIA being implemented in Sri Lanka,” the letter sent by the department said. The AG at the time was Jayantha Jayasuriya PC, who is the current Chief Justice.

Jayaratne said that in the 2018 letter no opinion had been given about the constitutionality of the Compact and the AG Department would do so in the future.