‘Who Is To Know CJ Is Corrupt Till We Make The Appointment’ – Vitarana Goes Against The Left
“I feel this lady is not fit to hold the office she is holding. Look at the charges against her. Is it alright to get that ‘Millennium transaction’ 1.6 million reduction in price? Then transfer a case that has been going for three years under a very able judge successfully which they only wanted number of people on the bench to be increased from three to five so that it will be strengthened? She takes it into her courts. This is very wrong. This may be genuine money she got from her sister. We are not bothered about that. But if she withdraws that amount of money from the bank account and has it as cash, she must include that in her declaration. But sadly it is not in her declaration.” says the Senior Minister Tissa Vitarana.
Vitharana
The Minister who is also the leader of the Lanka Samasamaja Party (LSSP) made above remarks when asked his views about the present developments with regard to the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice by Daily FT.
In an interview with Daily FT journalist Chamitha Kuruppu, when asked ‘is it justifiable to come to such conclusion by looking into only one side of the case?’ Viatarana said; “How can you say it is one-sided? This is all documented. What she should have done was, if she had evidence, produce that evidence to refute it. She was given time to produce written evidence. She didn’t do that. Giving evidence,Shiranee Tilakawardena said that this case was taken off her without her consent. Where in the world is a judge who is peculiarly interested in a particular case going and taking it from another judge and putting it into her court? Is it fair to do that? Do you justify that? Look at the bank statements. The amounts there are withdrawn in middle of March and statement at the end of March is blank. And then in April that amount of money is put back in the bank. If even a Government official had acted in that manner, it would be taken against that person. Here we are having the Head of the Judiciary doing that. We raised this matter at the party leaders’ meeting with the President. We asked President Rajapaksa why he appointed Shirani Bandaranayake’s husband Pradeep Kariyawasam as the Chairman of the NSB. The President said he did it under her specific request. President Rajapaksa did not want to antagonise her and therefore had to accommodate her request. Where in the world does a judge go and make such requests? When judges retire they are not supposed to take any posts, otherwise they will be offered things while they are acting as judges so they will be biased in those cases in anticipation of some reward later. These are ethical standards a judge has to maintain. Here we are talking about the Head of the Supreme Court of our country.”
“Who is to know she is corrupt like this till we make the appointment? It is only when they get the power that they show their true colours.” he said.
We are not only having local reactionary forces led by the UNP and the JVP, but there are also American-led British and European forces, he further said.
Read the full interview here
Meanwhile the Executive Committee of the Samajawadi Janatha Peramuna (Socialist Alliance) including LSSP which met at the Communist Party office on 01 January has decided that the Members of Parliament belonging to the Alliance should not take part in the vote on the impeachment of the Chief Justice.
