CJ should conduct investigation into leaked tapes: Govt.

 Cabinet spokesmen Ministers Bandula Gunawardana (left) and Ramesh Pathirana at the media briefing yesterday in Colombo

 – Pic by Ruwan Walpola

• Both Cabinet and Govt. spokesmen call on CJ to soon initiate investigation 
• Govt. backpedals on appointing Parliamentary Select Committee 
• Argues PSC could cause issues between Legislature and Judiciary as both arms of Govt. have equal powers under Constitution 

By Uditha Jayasinghe 

The Government yesterday called on Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya to conduct an independent investigation into the issues raised by the leaked tapes linked to parliamentarian Ranjan Ramanayake and backpedalled on the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), saying it would foster divisions between the Legislature and Judiciary. 

Cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardena told reporters that the leaked tapes and their impact on the public’s confidence in the Judiciary had been discussed at Cabinet but consensus had revolved more on giving Chief Justice Jayasuriya a chance to resolve the issue. 

“When serious concerns regarding the Judiciary are expressed, the highest action that politicians can take is to establish a PSC and through it push for reforms. But the feeling in Cabinet was that if such a step was taken then it could cause consternation between the Legislature and the Judiciary. The Executive, Legislature and Judiciary are equal branches of the Government under the Constitution,” Gunawardena said. 

This view was seconded by Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella, who emphasised that the Government preferred to give space to Chief Justice Jayasuriya to conduct an independent investigation into the leaked tapes as soon as possible and take appropriate steps. 

“Ideally Parliament should not be telling the Judiciary what to do. It is up to the Judiciary to decide how it wants to restore public confidence and faith. There is little doubt that these tapes have undermined the confidence the citizenry have regarding the Judiciary and in order to rectify the situation the Chief Justice must take measures as soon as possible,” Rambukwella said. 

The Government spokesman also insisted that the blame for alleged judicial interference cannot be placed solely on MP Ramanayake but incidents indicate that more powerful members of the United National Party (UNP) were also involved. 

“It is clear when looking at the sequence of events that top members of the former Government were also involved. The 19th Amendment has been held up as the highest achievement of the former Government. We have heard the UNP say time and again that under the 19th Amendment independent commissions were appointed and that gave independence to the public service, the media and Judiciary. But it is now clear that the very same people who introduced the 19th Amendment were also responsible for its corruption.” 

He went on to say that as the current administration was a minority Government it was up to the public to make a decision that would give this Government the opportunity to correct these alleged oversights and restore the confidence the public once had in their institutions.

“Before the public completely loses their confidence in the Judiciary, the Chief Justice has to take action. We have to ensure that such a situation does not reoccur,” he added. 

Responding to questions, Rambukwella also denied that the Government was paying less attention to extraditing former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran and stressed that all was being done within the parameters of the law to proceed with the bond scam investigations and trial.