Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
Friday, 7 December 2012 01:14 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Dharisha Bastians
Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and her legal team walked out of Parliamentary Select Committee proceedings after nearly four hours of sittings, in a major twist to the impeachment saga.
The Chief Justice and her lawyers cited a lack of faith in the process as the reason for the walkout.
Speaking to the Daily FT, Attorney-at-Law and member of Bandaranayake’s legal team, Saliya Peiris said the Chief Justice made the decision after the Committee consistently denied the requests of her lawyers and refused to divulge procedure for the ‘trial’.
“There is no point granting legitimacy to a process that is so obviously partial,” Peiris said.
Romesh De Silva PC, who is heading the Chief Justice’s legal team, noted that to disallow a defendant time to prepare a legal response was a violation of natural justice.
The Daily FT learns that Bandaranayake’s lawyers had repeatedly requested lists of witnesses and evidentiary documentation to support the charges in the impeachment motion. However yesterday the legal team was handed over a bundle of documents running into hundreds of pages and refused time to peruse the documentation to ascertain their veracity or an opportunity to cross-examine the persons making the allegations.
An authoritative source told the Daily FT that there were no major witnesses listed in the incomplete documentation handed over the Chief Justice’s lawyers. Instead, the Committee informed the Chief Justice that she would be called upon to give explanation on the documents provided by the PSC.
Several charges that were not cited in the motion of impeachment against the Chief Justice were also allegedly raised by the Committee, which claimed it had a right to probe those questions, the sources said.
Government members rejected allegations made by CJ and her lawyers.
PSC Chairman Anura Priyadarshana Yapa also ruled that the question raised by Bandaranayake’s lawyers regarding the perception of bias on the part of two members of the Committee against whom the Chief Justice had given rulings from the bench, was being rejected as baseless. The Chairman’s ruling caused a furore with Opposition committee members claiming that there was no deliberation on the issue at all when the committee met without the Chief Justice in audience on Wednesday.
The Daily FT also learns that several Ministers on the PSC heckled Romesh De Silva, PC, while he was speaking before the committee. Some committee members also heckled and insulted the Chief Justice during the session, the sources said.
Following the walkout by the Chief Justice, the PSC adjourned for the day at about 5:45 p.m. Government members on the Committee said proceedings will continue despite the walkout by the Chief Justice, and the PSC is set to reconvene at 1:30 p.m. today. These members also completely rejected the allegation that new charges had been raised during the sittings.
The four Opposition members on the Legislative Committee are expected to make a decision on whether to continue to be part of the PSC today.
