Exclusive: Secretary General Hides Two Key Legal Findings On CJ Impeachment From CMAG
August 15, 2013 |
Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma may have covered up two key independent legal opinions on the legality of Sri Lanka’s impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, withholding the content of those opinions even from the powerful Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), Colombo Telegraph learns.
Sharma
Speculation in Commonwealth and diplomatic circles is that the Secretary General has decided not to disclose the content of the opinions because they may have forced him to act against Sri Lanka which is the next host of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting this November, a top diplomat told Colombo Telegraph.
It is learned that CMAG Chair Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni is unhappy about Sharma’s lack of disclosure of these key legal opinions.
Sharma has responded that the Secretariat’s “good office engagements” were privileged communications but admits to having received several legal and other opinions on the controversial impeachment of Bandaranayake.
