Expose: Full Text Of Sharma’s Buried Report: Impeachment Violated C’wealth Principles, Sowed Seeds Of Anarchy

September 9, 2013 |

At least one eminent Commonwealth Jurist, whose opinion was sought by the Commonwealth Secretariat on President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s removal of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake has found that her impeachment was flawed and a direct violation of Commonwealth Values.

On August 15, Colombo Telegraph exclusively revealed that the Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma who had commissioned two key legal opinions from eminent Commonwealth Jurists on the Sri Lankan Government’s impeachment of its Chief Justice, Shirani Bandaranayake had decided to withhold the findings of those reports from the rest of the organisation.

Justice P.N. Langa, former Chief Justice of South Africa

Sharma refused to disclose the findings, even to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, the Commonwealth’s organ to measure state compliance with the organisation’s core values and principles. Queried on the topic by the Canadian High Commission in UK, Sharma responded that some matters were ‘privileged’ communications to his office.

Today, Colombo Telegraph can once again exclusively reveal to our readers one of the legal opinions sought and then allegedly buried the Secretary General’s Office. Justice P.N. Langa, former Chief Justice of South Africa and respected jurist, concludes that the Rajapaksa Government’s decision to disregard the Supreme Court Ruling on the impeachment of Chief Justice Bandaranayake was unconstitutional and said it was “sowing the seeds of anarchy.”

Justice Langa, who later passed away, issued his opinion on the matter in a memorandum to the Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, dated March 5, 2013.

Langa concludes in his memo that the disregarding of the Supreme Court ruling on the so called impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was unconstitutional, a direct violation of the Commonwealth Values and Principles and a serious violation of the Doctrine of Separation of Powers.

The late Jurist also concludes that the appointment of a de facto Chief Justice (Mohan Pieris) to replace Bandaranayake was both unconstitutional and unlawful, since the incumbent Chief Justice was not validly removed.

Langa’s two key findings, having studied the report based on the terms of reference provided to him by the Secretariat, was as follows:Read More