MR and team justify CJ ouster

•  President says due process was followed but decision to appoint a review panel was best practice and not to undermine PSC
• Opines Chief Justice Bandaranayake and her supporters with vested interests ‘politicising’ the issue and undermining independence of Judiciary
• Govt. PSC members insist main charges most credible; allege her conduct  unbecoming of a CJ and unethical to remain in office amidst impeachment probe

The ruling regime yesterday renewed its justification to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake based on credible evidence in support of key charges and opined her recent conduct was highly politicised and undermined the independence of Judiciary.

Key insights about the Government’s stand were shared with newspaper editors by President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday prior to breakfast at Temple Trees along with senior ministers and several members of the Parliamentary Select Committee.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa with Ministers and some of the Government members of the Parliamentary Select Committee at the meeting with newspaper editors at Temple Trees yesterday - Pic by Chandana Perera

Amid mounting allegations of a flawed process, the President emphasised that the Government had followed due process, drawing from examples of past incidents concerning the removals of Superior Court judges.

“The process has been clearly laid out much before I became the President and it wasn’t what I created,” President Rajapaksa told editors at the meeting, which also included Ministers Anura Yapa Abeywardena, who is also Chairman of the PSC, Susil Premajayantha, Wimal Weerawansa, Dilan Perera, Basil Rajapaksa, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Maithripala Sirisena and Keheliya Rambukwella.

The President also clarified his announcement on Tuesday regarding the appointment of a panel to review the eventual report from the Parliamentary Select Committee on the issue. “My decision to appoint a panel is not to undermine the PSC, but as part of best practices to get further recommendations,” Rajapaksa said, adding that he regularly resorts to similar advice on various issues of national importance. The review panel will be appointed after Parliament sends an “address” following the debate on the PSC report on the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice signed by 117 ruling party members, to the President.

In response to claims of use of derogatory words against the CJ, the Government PSC members denied it, saying: “Recordings will show the CJ was treated respectfully in the PSC deliberations."

"The PSC was also highly accommodative of requests by the CJ and her lawyers for additional legal presence during the PSC proceedings, even though the Standing Order had placed limits on the numbers,” they added.

Some Government PSC members also said Bandaranayake was given 24 hours to respond only to two charges in the motion and not all 14 as alleged by UNP. “All documents submitted weren’t new but what was already in the possession of CJ whilst in office,” they added.

The Chief Justice was found guilty on charges 1.4 and 5 of the impeachment motion. Charge 1 pertains to the Chief Justice having purchased an apartment at Trillium while hearing a Ceylinco case using her sister’s power of attorney, Charge 4 deals with non disclosure of some 20 bank accounts she maintained at NDB bank. Charge #5 deals with the case pertaining to Pradeep Kariyawasam filed in a Magistrate’s Court and the Chief Justice’s potential to abuse power as Chairperson of the Judicial Services Commission and how her position as Head of the Judiciary hearing the case could hinder or be perceived as hindering the administration of justice.

These members also alleged that Bandaranayake’s refusal to take oaths before the PSC implied she was unwilling to cooperate from the beginning of the proceedings. Her subsequent conduct was aimed at derailing the process, they said.

“The month’s timeframe for PSC to conclude (as per Standing Orders) was in the best interest of the CJ and not an act of haste by the Government. The essence of this requirement is that the axe of dishonour shouldn’t hang over Chief Justice of the country for too long,” they opined.

“There was a chance for PSC proceedings to be extended given requests by Opposition members on account of pre-planned overseas visits, but the walk out by the CJ removed that window of opportunity. Furthermore, the request for more time from the CJ’s Lawyers is not credible because they already had the information which they used in replies to a Sinhala newspaper, which carried some of the main charges against the CJ in early November.”

The UNP claim of not being given an opportunity to submit a dissenting report was also shot down. “The Opposition cannot hold the Government or the PSC responsible. The Opposition had the opportunity within the stipulated period, but they walked out, hence they can’t complain after the deadline had passed,” the Government members said, adding that the Opposition should have continued with the PSC and recorded their reservations.

Newspaper editors were also told that the conduct of Shirani Bandaranayake post-impeachment motion was unbecoming of a CJ, whilst the Government also claimed that the entire issue was highly politicised by the CJ and/or other parties with vested interests that were exploiting her situation. “The Supreme Court premises has now become the Lipton Circus,” remarked President Rajapaksa.

Reiterating some of the other charges in the motion, Government members alleged that the CJ had abused her official position with favouritism and victimisation. To stress on the latter, it was alleged that an officer was transferred seven times in a year. Incidents of serious conflicts of interest were stressed especially when it came to the Chief Justice making the decision to preside over cases involving Ceylinco.

The members were of the view that it would have been ethical for the CJ to have stepped down until she was found guilty or cleared. In that context Bandaranayake’s conduct by participating in various supportive events or being seen exposes her to be siding with various lawyers, whose cases she may have had heard previously or will in the future. It is CJ Bandaranayake who has indeed compromised the independence of Judiciary, they alleged.

Lawyers of Chief Justice have vowed to counter PSC findings and prove her innocence.