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Amnesty
Amnesia Legal arguments have been submitted to Court in the course of which, one position is that once a law is passed by Parliament, and that law is certified by the Speaker, no Court shall inquire into the passage of that law in any way whatsoever. (Please see the Business section of this issue). The President, on the other hand, now seeks to invoke section 129 (1) of the Constitution to seek an opinion from the Supreme Court - a new trend by her to by-pass the Attorney General - on grounds of " public importance".The fact that " “public importance " is a euphemism for " “political expediency " in the context of modern Sri Lankan politics now need not be argued so strenuously . The President says she did not give Cabinet approval for this law, but isn't her deafening silence since, a clear sign of complicity in what she now complains, quite correctly, is a crime. The law was debated in Parliament on the 19th of February, 2003. Neither did the President, nor any one from her party challenge the law - the Inland Revenue (Special Provisions ) Act No. 10 of 2003 before the Supreme Court when there was time to do so. Hansard ( the official record of Parliament ) shows that only one singular MP spoke on this bill from the President's party - Ronnie de Mel ! Only one JVP MP spoke. Not a single amendment was moved by the PA at the time during the time set for this. The opposition to this was so lukewarm that were someone to suspect that this was a conspiracy by the political parties - all political parties and their leaders - to protect their financiers and those who gave them, and continue to give gunny-bags of green notes for their election campaigns and personal use, it was a justifiable suspicion. For this is what The Sunday Times said at the time “This seems to be political cronyism at its blatant best - or worst, as the case may be ". (March 16, 2003 - editorial) We say so even today. But there was virtual unanimity in passing this legislation at the time because all parties were to gain because we all know that parties calling for elections cannot win elections without the big bucks to print posters, place advertisements in the media, erect platforms, decorate streets and deface walls, pump diesel into vehicles and pay for party hacks to go house-to-house. Some 64,000 people and companies have sought refuge under this amnesty, which speaks for itself about revenue collection in this country. Not all of them are party financiers and downright crooks, but our opposition to this amnesty was because the Finance Minister was never forthcoming with the true benefits to the country from this, and the very nature of the exercise provided smugglers, money-launderers and others (the amnesty extended to the Customs, Excise and Foreign-Exchange areas as well as Income Tax) utmost secrecy. It
was a kick to the honest citizen, who was made to look a fool for
following the straight and narrow path, while it recognised and
gave protection to the dishonest. Now, one year later and on the
eve of an election, Mrs. Ryp Van Winkle has awakened from her slumber,
and some tube-light wisdom has dawned upon her to embark on a moral
crusade to right a wrong she was part of. |
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