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BASL President says no official resignation request made
View(s):President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) Kaushalya Nawaratna PC says he has had no official communication from the Bar Council requesting him to resign from his post, and would decide how and when to respond once he receives such a request.
His comments came after the Bar Council, the apex body of the BASL, decided unanimously to call on Mr Nawaratna to resign after it was found that he failed to act with transparency in relation to the contract entered into by BASL with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) dated December 11, 2023 and thus violated the trust reposed in him as President.
Using its power to issue directions to the BASL President, Mr Nawaratna was also directed by the Bar Council not to perform any function in that role.
Mr Nawaratna has excused himself from Council meetings since the committee was appointed and was not present when the decision was taken to request him to step down.
“What the committee report says is that it is of the opinion that there was no transparency in the agreement signed. They have not said there was any wrong doing. The well-being of our profession is the most important, not our personal considerations,” Mr Nawaratna said in response to a query from the Sunday Times.
He added that there are 24,000 members in the BASL, but a few are against him for various reasons, and he sees a personal vendetta against him.
A committee appointed by the Bar Council at the meeting held on May 18 comprised Dr Faisz Mustapha PC, Dr K Kanag-Isvaran PC, Ikram Mohamed PC, Rienzie Arseculeratne PC and Geoffrey Alagaratnam. They inquired into the matters relating to JICA-BASL programme (data collection survey) to promote a transparent and competitive business climate in
Sri Lanka – anti corruption component.
The committee in its report stated that it is of the opinion that Kaushalya Nawaratna PC, President of BASL, has failed to act with transparency in relation to the contract entered into by BASL with JICA dated December 11, 2023, and has violated the trust reposed in him as the President of the BASL.
The report also said that Nalinda Indatissa PC has failed to exercise any meaningful oversight expected of the Deputy President of BASL.
However, in relation to three others, the committee said that on the material placed before it, the committee cannot identify any lapse on their part.
The committee said that office bearers of BASL holding honorary positions of trust and probity are called upon and expected to exercise the highest level of transparency and integrity especially in matters of financial nature.
The committee was also of the unanimous view that members of BASL should not derive financial or other pecuniary benefit from matters of the BASL unless it has been specially brought to the attention of the Executive Committee of the Bar Council and has received approval thereat.
This applies in equal measure to family members and/or persons closely associated with the BASL, the report said.
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