Ex-CJ blames government for hedging deal ruling

Former Sri Lankan Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva says the government gave the chance to a bank to file a case in UK judiciary on the controversial hedging agreements by not implementing a Sri Lankan Supreme Court verdict.

The former Chief Justice speaking to media pointed out that he delivered a verdict as the Chairman of the panel of judges who examined two fundamental rights petitions to reduce the price of a liter of petrol to Rs. 100.

However, the government ignored the court ruling and reduced the price of a liter of petrol by only Rs. 2, he said.  Acting on a petition filed by Chairman of the Laugfas Gas, W. Wegapitiya against the controversial oil hedging deal, the Supreme Court in November 2008 ordered to stop the payments to five commercial banks - Standard Chartered, Citi Bank, Commercial Bank, Deutsche Bank and People’s Bank - until a final determination of the case.  Under an interim order the Supreme Court also ordered the government to reduce the petrol price to Rs. 100 per liter, but the government refused to do so.  Ignoring to implement the Supreme Court ruling paved the way to the present crisis, the ex-Chief Justice said.