Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake said yesterday that she was ready to respond to the findings of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that comprised government MPs and averred that she would disprove the findings and prove her innocence.
Issuing a press statement on behalf of the CJ, for the first time since the PSC completed its proceedings, the CJ’s lawyers said that the Chief Justice’s position was that the findings of the Government Parliamentarians in the Select Committee did not constitute a report of the Select Committee since the Opposition Members on the Select Committee had withdrawn from the proceedings and they had not been given an opportunity to submit their observations.
The statement says;
The media has quoted the Government Members of the PSC as having stated that they have found the Chief Justice, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake guilty of the 1st, 4th and 5th allegations in the impeachment motion while exonerating her of the 2nd and 3rd allegations.
The Chief Justice is yet to be issued a copy of the evidence and the findings of the Government Members of the Select Committee. It is understood that the Report was submitted just hours after the Government Members of the Select Committee concluded hearing witnesses.
As soon as she is furnished with the same, the Chief Justice will respond to the report of the Government Members and to the ex-parte evidence which was given in her absence, without any notice being given to her and which was given devoid of cross-examination. The Chief Justice re-iterates that if the said witnesses were cross-examined by her counsel, she would have been able to demonstrate the untruthfulness of the evidence of the key witnesses hurriedly summoned.
The proceedings before the Government Members of the Select Committee are fundamentally flawed since the proceedings were unfair, conducted without a proper procedure being adopted, conducted without giving the Chief Justice an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses and without observing the rules of natural justice or the elementary standards of fairness. In fact after the Chief Justice was informed that only documentary evidence will be used at the inquiry, after the Chief Justice walked out of the Select Committee, the very next day sixteen witnesses were called and their evidence led without any notice to the Chief Justice and without making them available for cross-examination.
Yesterday’s observations made by Sri Lanka’s most eminent Judge and Jurist Dr. C.G. Weeramantry, confirm the Chief Justice’s contention that she never received a fair or impartial hearing from the Government Members of the Select Committee.
It is noteworthy that even when evidence was led ex parte (that is, in the absence of the Chief Justice and her lawyers, in the absence of cross examination and in the absence of evidence being put forward by the Chief Justice) yet there was no evidence to justify allegations 2 and 3 which were made without supportive evidence and the question arises as to the basis on which 117 MPs signed the impeachment motion putting forward the said charges.
The Government Members of the PSC have also stated that they will not even look into the charges bearing numbers 6 to 14, although the Select Committee was mandated by the Speaker to look into all the charges including the said charges numbered 6 to 14.
The Chief Justice has at all times maintained that she is innocent of all the charges — which are baseless and framed purely with malicious intent. She has always stated that there is no evidence whatsoever in support of the charges framed against her. Her stance is now vindicated. It is hoped that suitable action would be taken against the aforesaid parties for framing charges against a sitting Chief Justice which could not even be maintained at an ex parte hearing.
She will, as soon as the report of the Government Members of the Select Committee is made available, respond to the findings, demonstrate that the findings are incorrect and she is innocent of the charges.
Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)
