CJ says the court could not be intimidated by the ‘show of force’
With the aim of expediting the GK case filed by depositors, Supreme Court Chief Justice Mohan Peiris fixed a special hearing for the Golden Key Fundamental Rights Case on June 9th while issuing a warning that he will not entertain any more intervening petitions or revising orders already made by the court.
He also said employees of Ceylinco Insurance Ltd should not make the Court a forum for trade union meetings.
He stressed that the Court will take action if any party does not adhere to orders made by the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice stated that the court could not be intimidated by the ‘show of force’.
He made these observations when the GK case was taken up for hearing on Thursday before a 3- member bench comprising himself, and Justices K. Sripavan and Rohini Marasinghe.
At the commencement of the hearing, the Chief Justice said he had decided to hear the case on a special date either June 9 or 10 whichever is convenient for counsel appearing for the case.
The majority of the lawyers agreed on the date proposed by the Chief Justice but the counsel appearing for an intervening petitioner, the employees of Ceylinco Insurance, Faiszer Musthapa PC informed Court that he has go overseas and would not be available on June 9 to 15.
He also told Court that he was appearing for over 500 employees aggrieved by a Supreme Court directive. Reacting to this remark, the Chief Justice said “this is the Supreme Court, the highest court of the land. If they think that they can intimidate us by coming here in numbers then they are wrong”.
He noted that this is not an ‘ambalama’ (pilgrims rest) for 500 or more people to come.
Mr. Musthapa, appearing with Ali Sabri PC, submitted that their clients have been directly aggrieved by Supreme Court orders to vest the powers of the CIESOT Trust Fund in the GK Special Taskforce.
Mr. Musthapa noted that orders relating to CIESOT have been obtained by suppressing actual facts. V.K. Choksy appearing for state-appointed GK directors told courts that all these activities mentioned in the Court by the Counsel had taken place after the collapse of the GK and it did not arise now.
The Chief Justice noted that “this is a scam” and said that if the employees are affected then there is a system to find redress through the Taskforce and the Central Bank.
He said that his concern was also drawn to firmly prosecuting the two directors of Ceylinco Insurance who have been served with indictments in the Kandy High Court.
Ceylinco Insurance Director and CEO Ajith Gunawardena and another have been issued with indictments for criminal breach of trust in the Ceylinco Shriram case.