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Ranil’s Secretary files FR petition against COI on political victimisation
View(s):The then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s secretary Saman Ekanayake has filed a fundamental rights (FR) Petition in the Supreme Court challenging the decisions and recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into Political Victimisation and subsequent Cabinet decisions connected to it.
In his FR petition, Mr Ekanayake vehemently denies the allegations made by the CoI that he “violated the Constitution” with regard to his role in the Anti Corruption Committee (ACC) and Anti Corruption Committee Secretariat (ACCS) that functioned under the Yahapalana Government. On the contrary, Mr. Ekanayake claims that he has acted within the legally sanctioned framework and followed the established procedure.
He has also pointed out that both the ACC and the ACCS were created by way of Cabinet decisions and that as the Prime Minister’s Secretary, he was duty bound to implement the decisions taken by the Cabinet.
Mr. Ekanayake says a particular Cabinet decision’s legality can only be challenged at a judicial forum. To the best of his knowledge, no one has successfully challenged the legality of this Cabinet decision, he adds.
He cites 42 respondents. They include the three members of the CoI and its Secretary, the Cabinet of Ministers, members of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery
or Corruption and the Attorney General.
Mr Ekanayake’s petition has strongly refuted the CoI’s purported allegations that he had misused public property through the ACC and the ACCS.
He has also described as “baseless” the allegation levelled by the CoI that allowing the hosting of meetings of the ACC at “Temple Trees” had resulted in the misappropriation of Rs 33.7 million in public funds. He has also contested the CoI’s characterisation of the ACC as a “Non-Governmental Organisation.”
The ACC is a unit duly established by the Cabinet and it adheres to financial regulations and the Establishment Code, he says.
Mr. Ekanayake says ‘Temple Trees’ is the official residence of Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and therefore the Prime Minister is entitled to use it for his official and private purposes. He says all Prime Ministers have used and continue to use their private residences even for their political meetings.
The petitioner also states that he was not summoned as a witness or a respondent by the COI, either to record a statement or to give evidence and he was not given an opportunity to defend himself or present his version of the role he played in establishment and functioning of the ACCS.
He says that in view of what he sees as the grave violations his constitutional rights, he has appealed to the Supreme Court to grant leave to proceed with his petition.
He has also asked court to quash the findings and/or decisions and/or recommendations of the CoI’s final report and the decisions taken by the Cabinet with regard to the said report so far as they relate to him.
He has also asked court to grant a stay order against the implementation of the recommendations of the CoI’s final report and Cabinet decisions related to him until the conclusion of the case.