RS 619 MILLION PUBLIC FUNDS FRAUD CASE AGAINST MOHAN PEIRIS AND PB JAYASUNDARA: THE LAWYER WAS THREATENED

Mohan to be appointed in place of Shirani as the Chief Justice

Monday, 15 October 2012

The President has decided to appoint former Attorney General Mohan Peiris as the Chief Justice after removing Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake from the post, sources from Temple Trees said.

The President has asked Mohan Peiris to take the relevant steps to file charges against Bandaranayake through a parliamentary select committee (PSC).

It is as part of this plan that the President had got Leader of the House, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva to make a statement denying any plan to bring an impeachment motion against Bandaranayake. The President has decided to get Bandaranayake’s friend, Judicial Services Commission (JSC) Secretary Manjula Thilekaratne removed from his post before making a change to the post of Chief Justice.

The President has ordered the Defence Secretary to inquire into the complaints received against the JSC Secretary and report to him within one week. Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has been ordered to carry out a media campaign against the JSC Secretary.

Meanwhile, an attempt is also being made to safeguard the real culprits who have attacked the JSC Secretary in the course of the police investigation.

The police have purposely avoided carrying out any scientific investigating methods during the preliminary inquiries into the attack. The police have not asked for the services of the fingerprints unit and had also not used the police dogs to sniff the scent of the assailants.

Also, new entrants to the police force are being used to carry out the investigation.

The President had decided to intensify the attack against the Chief Justice in order to get her removed from the post since she is continuously rejecting invitations for discussions him.

The Chief Justice had avoided speaking to External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris who had tried to initiate a dialogue between her and the President.

The President had wanted Peiris to get the Chief Justice to agree to a meeting with the President to discuss the suspension of District Judge Aravinda Perera by the JSC.

However, when the Chief Justice had avoided Peiris’ telephone call, the President had assigned the task to Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunge.

The Chief Justice had answered Weeratunge’s telephone call and asked him to inform her in writing the reason for asking her to attend a discussion with the President. Weeratunge had then sent a letter to the Chief Justice saying the discussion would be on the allocation of funds in the 2013 budget for the judiciary.

The Chief Justice had then informed the officials involved in handling the funding allocated for the judiciary to participate in the meeting.

After hearing this situation, the Presidential Secretary had telephoned the Chief Justice and informed her that there was no necessity to bring the other officials since the discussion would be on the suspension of District Judge Aravinda Perera and several other personal issues.

The Chief Justice had immediately turned down the Presidential Secretary’s request.

The President had been angered after being informed by his secretary of the Chief Justice’s response.

The President had immediately summoned Mohan Peiris and said his patience had approached its limit and there needed to be an end to the current conflict. Sources said that the President had asked Moahn Peiris to take the necessary steps to remove the current Chief Justice from her post and had asked him to be prepared to accept the post once vacant.