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| Jailed
SB revives dead UNP Needles to say, it has sent shock waves reeling down the country's political establishment. If President Chandrika Kumaratunga herself worried about a possible Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by the LTTE before the address, the result of wrong advice by her ill-informed military top brass, thereafter, it was about an impending resumption of the insurgency. Added to that, she also worried about Prabhakaran's accusations that very little has been done to develop the guerrilla-controlled areas of the North and East. So much so, she sat down with her service chiefs and the Inspector General of Police to hear officials of the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and spell out a variety of development activity they have carried out. The mood seemed to be one of "what's Prabhakaran talking" when such a lot has been done. Soon, state television will highlight the 'enormous development activity' that has been going on not only in Tiger-held areas, but also in areas controlled by the Security Forces. Collation of the material is already under way. Whilst waiting for Prbhakaran to open the battlefront he has threatened, she was also busy with the military top brass. That was to appreciate what is in store and to prepare counter measures. It is at such an unexpected juncture that a new battlefront came to be opened for President Kumaratunga and her UPFA Government. It came in the form of an otherwise dormant United National Party rising from the dead, as it were. The fuel for that turbo charged campaign ahead of Christmas and New Year is the jailing of its national organiser, S. B. Dissanayake on grounds of Contempt of Court. On Tuesday, S.B. Dissanayake's Senior Counsel Romesh de Silva knew something was not quite right as he rode to Hulftsdorp, the citadel of the Courts of Justice in this country. What aroused his suspicions was that Police riot-squads had taken static guard positions in and around the Superior Courts Complex. For a moment, President's Counsel de Silva wondered if a judgment in 'some other case' of significance was to be delivered that day. Not that he knew of any, though. He had reason to be confident, because his client seemed to have reason to be confident. Stories were aplenty that his client had struck a deal with the Chief Justice Sarath Silva. The Chief Justice himself referred to such stories in private conversations. One of the intermediaries, according to these stories, was the Chief Incumbent of the Nalandaramaya at Nugegoda, Ven. Thiniyawela Palitha Thera, a pro-active relatively young monk with wide connections with politicians, including UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. S.B. Dissanayake had played his cards very close to his chest. He had told his party's leadership, including Wcikremesinghe that he would tackle his problem, himself. He had not wanted the party's assistance in the matter. He had told his lawyers the same thing. Eventually, Romesh de Silva had to obtain written instructions from his client, an extreme step taken by a lawyer viz-a-viz his client, especially when the client is in Sri Lanka and able to attend consultations, personally. It is a step usually taken when a lawyer wants to guard himself from a case boomeranging on him, and he being accused of professional negligence, or misconduct. That S. B. Dissanayake was taken by complete surprise is not a secret. When he walked into the Supreme Court, he was the same beaming politician who walked in once before, when as a Minister in the PA Government he had been hauled up before the same Court, and the same Chief Justice, and came out with the same beaming smile, "warned - and discharged". He wanted no fuss. No crowds were to converge at Hulftsdorp. He wanted to go up the elevator to the fourth floor of the Superior Courts Complex, and come out with another "warned - and discharged", or at most, a "suspended sentence". Alas, it was not to be. The Chief Justice this time, had other ideas. The bench he would have picked, agreed with him - that S.B. Dissanayake was guilty of contempt of court for uttering the words ; "Chandrika lost in the country, lost in Gampaha and also lost In Attanagalla. The nona who lost handed over the Premier post to Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe not because she likes him, but because the people gave him the power. I was given the Samurdhi Ministry. That again was not because she loves me. That was because she lost.We won, that is why the Defence Ministry was given to us'. "She has consulted the judiciary as to whom the Defence Ministry belongs. The UNP does not accept sending this matter to the Supreme Courts. We will not accept the Balu Nadu thindu. Therefore our Defence Ministry should remain. Chandrika cannot change that. If necessary an election can be held. We can get more than 113 seats." He said this, as Agriculture Minister at a Wap Magul ceremony, an ancient ceremony connected with the sowing of seeds for a new paddy season, at Habaraduwa. He would seem to reap - a whirlwind -of what he sowed verbally that day. Within a session of a day, as his party colleagues were engaged in debating the budget at Parliamant. S.B. Dissanayake, the once arguably most powerful politician in the country next only to President Chandrika Kumaratunga, a one-time General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), was taken to the dreaded Welikada prison. It was only after he was safely lodged in a cell as prisonor no. H 21569, that the UNP realised what had hit it. Its National Orgnaiser was lugged in prison. It was only then that its legal luminaries started working backwards on the case. Firstly, they realised that S.B. Dissanayake had originally referred to the Supreme Court by saying that whatever decision they gave regarding a ruling sought by President Kumaratunga from that very Court on whether the Defence Ministry should be constitutionally a subject that ought to have come within the purview of the President, they would not accept such a decision. Dissanayake clearly anticipated a decision that would go in favour of the President. The Supreme Court then asked the Attorney General to draft contempt papers against the Minister, and the task fell on the shoulders of Solicitor General C.R. de Silva. S.B. Dissanayake, initially seems to have taken a tough stand on the matter. When he appeared in Court to answer charges on Day 1, he said that he did not mean to bring the Judiciary to disrepute, and admitted having said some of the things he was asked to explain, but denied using the words " balu theendu" ( loosely translated to mean underhand decisions). Subsequently, S.B. Dissanayake, by now having lost his portfolio following the April 2 elections submitted a strong answer by way of written submissions. His defence was on the plank on two main points, one being that what he said at the Habaraduwa Wap Magul ceremony was a party decision, and secondly, a legal argument, that whatever he said would not amount to contempt of court. Naturally, the Supreme Court thought otherwise, its main plank being that what the then Minister said amounted to the intimidation of the Court. Therefore, that it was Contempt of Court. UNP Lawyers were poring over the background to this very aspect. What they seem to think is that the chronology of events would not give rise to what the former Minister said being an act of intimidation. They
point out that the sequence of events was as follows; Going on the basis that the Supreme Court gave its verdict within the 10 days time frame to the President, the former Minister could not have intimidated the Court. Yesterday, the same team of UNP Lawyers stumbled upon another aspect. They refer to the Supreme Court judgment, written in English, at the bottom of page 7 and top of page 8 referring to the "Consultative jurisdiction" of the Court as per the Constitution Articles 118 and 129, but point out that the Sinhala version of the Constitution - which is taken as the official text uses the words "upadeshaka adhikarana balaya" which, in effect means that the Courts have only an advisory capacity and that its ruling cannot be binding. But where the UNP is going to canvass these legal points, however valid or not they may be, is the question. According to those close to S.B. Dissanayake, his lawyers are now planning a revision application but they will need to go before the Supreme Court. Five judges sat. A revision application will have to be a bench with the same number or more. Of the 11- member Bench, two are overseas, and with two vacanices only a 7-judge Bench could be constituted. Any hopes of upsetting the Tuesday's verdict will be slim. When UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe went to see his party's National Orgnaiser in jail on Friday, S.B. Dissanayake had told him that he would not be seeking a pardon from the President. What would be adding insult to injury would be if the request for a pardon is turned down by the President. It also is clear that the President is in no mood to pardon her erstwhile right-hand-man. Her Office had directed the Prison officials to ensure that S.B. Dissanayake not even be given a mattress to sleep on. Two mobile phones in his cell were confiscated. In such a situation, seeking a pardon from the President would be as suicidal as the tactics adopted in his defence on the Contempt charges. It's early days still, and S.B. Dissanayake is defiant. In the mornings, he teaches aerobics to his fellow inmates. But, more than the physical endurance he will need to face in prison, it will be how he copes mentally. Visitors are allowed to see him, and his party is going to make a claim that he is a political prisoner and not a common criminal. He told Wickremesinghe that the party's re-organisation should go-ahead despite his incarceration. The next day (yesterday) Wickremesinghe gave party organisership letters to Sajith Premadasa and Keheliya Rambukwella for Hambantota and Kandy respectively with a media blitz thrown in for good measure. Matale, which S.B. Dissanayake was to handle himself was to be parked with Lakshman Seneviratne. On Friday, his party's parliamentary colleagues got up at voting time for the Budget and held folded cardboard paper with the words "Release S.B." and urging the Speaker to ensure that the jailed MP attend Parliament sittings in the New Year. But S.B. Dissanayake might feel a bit bad when he finds that while he is languishing in jail, his leader will be flying to Singapore on holiday. Milinda Moragoda goes back to America, and so on as the Festive Season begins to take-off. The party machinery however will be gearing for a show of strength on December 21 at 'grass-root level' as one organiser called it. They are preparing to write to the Chief Justice and complain about some remark Tourism, Investments and Industries Minister Anura Bandaranaike had made about S.B. Dissanayake being sent to jail long before he really was. This would have been a good defence mechanism had S.B. Dissanayake challenged his contempt case, but that is all water under the bridge now. It is still too early to say whether the incarceration of a controversial politician would have woken the otherwise sleeping UNP, or whether this is all froth and no beer. The Government seems adamant to tighten the noose round the neck of its bete-noir, and arguably its most dangerous opponent in the context of S.B. Dissanayake's grass-root level organisational capabilities. Next comes the bribery charges he will have to answer. In a sense, S.B. Dissanayake has won a little sympathy by his incarceration, a sympathy he would not have gained had he been sentenced, say for bribery and corruption. In any event, a whole new dimension has opened up in the politics of contemporary Sri Lanka. And the stage has been set for an eventful 2005. |
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