President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said that he would call for a report from an independent committee before acting on the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) report, which dealt with the allegations made against Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake.
President Rajapaksa said that he wanted to do the right thing and therefore an independent committee would be consulted, though he could have acted on the PSC findings.
Government members of the PSC appointed to examine the 14 charges against Chief Justice Bandaranayake, preferred by 117 MPs, who called for her impeachment on Saturday, finalized their report which was tabled in Parliament by Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, the Chairman of the PSC.
The report said that the CJ was guilty of three of the five charges that had been examined by the committee while there was insufficient evidence to determine her guilt or otherwise in respect of other two charges.
Given the gravity of the charges on which the CJ had been found guilty and the fact that the time available for investigation was limited, the PSC report signed by seven government MPs said it was not necessary to examine whether there was substance or not in the other charges.
Addressing Chartered Accountants after the opening of their new building complex, the President emphasised that he would seek a second opinion though it was not necessary or legally required.
President Rajapaksa recalled how the Opposition had moved the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption against the husband of the Chief Justice. Subsequently, the Opposition demanded that the Chief Justice be probed. In fact, it was the Opposition which first declared that it would impeach the Chief Justice. The government had remained silent at that time, the President said, adding that the parliament would decide on the impeachment of CJ following a debate.
Source: The Island (Sri Lanka)
