Govt. looking for scapegoats to blame for impeachment: Harsha

Friday, 14 December 2012 01:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Dharisha Bastians

While taking full responsibility for exposing the crooked National Savings Bank share transaction, UNP National List MP, Dr. Harsha De Silva said he never called for the impeachment of the Chief Justice on those grounds.

Speaking at a media briefing yesterday, Dr. De Silva charged that with the impeachment motion having gone sour, the Government is searching for scapegoats and is engaged in an attempt to portray the process of removing Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake to have been done at the behest of the Opposition.

Dr. De Silva told journalists that when he raised the issue in Parliament in May, he asked for a full investigation of all those involved, including former NSB Chairman Pradeep Kariyawasam.

“In my speech in Parliament, I made note of the fact that Kariyawasam was the legal husband of the Chief Justice of the country. I also said that the Chief Justice would have to resign if she was a hindrance to justice being done, but I never called for her removal,” he explained.

According to the Opposition Legislator, several Government Ministers and even the President himself have made statements to the effect that the impeachment process was carried out at the behest of Harsha De Silva and the UNP. “Suddenly, according to the Government, I am the most powerful member of the Opposition – apparently they do exactly as I say,” De Silva charged.

He said that the UNP maintains that the procedure adopted to impeach the Chief Justice was completely wrong. “Now that the regime is in trouble over the impeachment, they need to find a way to blame the whole thing on us,” De Silva added.

The MP said that the Government was making the ludicrous claim that in order to punish a wrongdoer, his spouse ought to be removed from public office. “There were many others mentioned as being culpable in the NSB share controversy, what has the Government done to investigate them and bring them to justice?” the Opposition lawmaker asked.