Easter Sunday attacks: Ex President Sirisena claims Defense officials failed him

Former President Maithripala Sirisena claimed that he had been held responsible for the failure to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks by the Supreme Court by application of legal principle as Minister of Defence at that time when key officials within the Ministry failed to brief him about the impending attacks.

“Their Lordships of the Supreme Court have extensively analysed the legal principle known as the Carltona: Principle, Accordingly, the Minister remains the constant watchdog of his department and any failare of supervision resulting in the breach of a Fundamental Right is a dereliction on the part of the Minister,” a statement issued by the office of  the former President said.

“Unfortunately, during the time I functioned as the President of the Republic and the Defense Minister, I acted on the premise that my primary duty as a Minister was in relation to the formulation of policy and general supervision and direction,”

“I had appointed key officials to be watchdogs of departments and other state institutions. I expected the Secretary to the Ministry of Defense, the then Secretary of Deferise, the Director of the State Intelligence Service, and other key officials to carry out their duties efficaciously and effectively and bring to my attention the key matters that I had to be apprised of as the Minister of Defense or the President when the situation so demands. Unfortunately, this had not taken place and I have now been held responsible by application of a legal principle,” the statement said.

The former President also reiterated that he was never briefed by top Defense officials including- former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Chief of State Intelligence (SIS) or Defense Secretary about prior warnings.

The Supreme Court last week held former President Maithripala Sirisena, former Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, former National Intelligence Director, former IGP and ex SIS Director Nilantha Jayawardhane accountable for violating the Fundamental Rights of petitioners, by failing to take necessary action to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks despite receiving early intelligence information. 

The Court also ordered former President Sirisena to pay Rs.100 million as damages to the victims of Easter Sunday attacks while ex IGP Jayasundara, ex SIS Director Jayawardhane and ex Defense Secretary Fernando directed to pay Rs.75 million and Rs 50 million respectively.

The Court issued the verdict after hearing twelve petitions filed by family relatives of the victims, catholic priests and Bar Association of Sri Lanka.

The full statement by the former President as follows:

The Easter Sunday attack is the most distressing event of my life and to date, I continue to be shaken by the tragic events that transpired. I have no words to express my regret that it happened during the tenure of my office when I was the Minister of Defense and President of the Republic.

During the Course of the Proceedings of the Fundamental Rights Petitions filed in the Supreme Court, it was brought to light that certain intelligence reports were reccived by the State Intelligence Service and other officers within the scurity apparatus concerning the activities of the terrorist Zahran Hashim and his associates.

However, unfortunately, I as the Minister of Defense or the President was never notified of this information prior to the tragic Easter Sunday bombings. The fact that I was not notificd of this information has been clearly acknowledged in the judgment of the Supreme Court. I quote from page 81 of the Supreme Court Judgment which reads as follows:

"The President was never notified of the intelligence relating to the threat of a terrorist attack by Zahran Hashim and his associates." I also wish to quote from page 95 of the said judgment that clearly states that the then Secretary of Defense has failed to apprise me of intelligence information concerning the tragic Easter Bombings:

"It is undisputed that Hemasiri Fernando did not apprise the Minister nor did he make any allempi lo do so al any lime from the lime he came to know of the intelligence information on the possible attack."

Further at page 92 of the said Judgment, their Lordships of the Supreme Court have come to the finding that the then IGP and Defense Secretary had the opportunity to laise with me even though they failed to inform me about the said attacks.

“…it does not lie in the mouth of both Hemasiri Fernando and the IGP that they had been disabled by their own minister. They had opportunities to liaise with the Minister of Defence. The opportunity presented itself when they met the President to wish him for the Sinhala and Tamil New Year on 14th April 2019 and in view of the intelligence both of them were possessed of, they could have collectively appealed to their Minister to exercise his powers under both the Constitution and others statules such as the Public Security Ordinance. It was an egregious omission on their part even if the President had grown alienated from them.”

Further, it is unfortunate that the officers in the national security apparatus failed to conduct a proper threat assessment of the incidents preceding the Easter Sunday Bombings. In this regard, I quote from page 81 of the said judgment:

"The President was due to visit Batticaloa on 12th April 2019-a city situated in close proximity to Kattankudy-the hometown of Zahran but the Director, SIS did not proffer any threat assessment of the situation to the President. This shows that Nilantha Jayawardena never gave any credence to the intelligence he had received from his foreign counterpart on the 4th April

2019

Therefore, in the judgment of the Supreme Court, their Lordships have come to a finding that I was not informed of the intelligence reports that preceded the attack. I am relieved that this truth is finally established by the Supreme Court,

Much of the substantive findings against me are based on the legal principle that acts done by officials in the exercise of ministerial functions are to be treated as Ministers' own acts regardless of whether these acts are done by any officials.

Their Lordships of the Supreme Court have extensively analysed the legal principle known as the Carltona: Principle, Accordingly, the Minister remains the constant watchdog of his department and any failare of supervision resulting in the breach of a Fundamental Right is a dereliction on the part of the Minister.

Unfortunately, during the time I functioned as the President of the Republic and the Defense Minister, I acted on the premise that my primary duty as a Minister was in relation to the formulation of policy and general supervision and direction.

I had appointed key officials to be watchdogs of departments and other state institutions. I expected the Secretary to the Ministry of Defense, the then Secretary of Deferise, the Director of the State Intelligence Service, and other key officials to carry out their duties efficaciously and effectively and bring to my attention the key matters that I had to be apprised of as the Minister of Defense or the President when the situation so demands. Unfortunately, this had not taken place and I have now been held responsible by application of a legal principle.

I have also been faulted for not having regular meetings of the National Security Council. I was of the understanding that the Security Council was only operative during the time of emergency and ceases to exist as a legal body consequent to the lapse of the emergency period.

It was only summoned in an ad-hoc manner since it was not a constitutional and/or statutory requirement.

In my opinion at the time, I had a parallel process which now appears to have been considered inadequate by the Supreme Court.

I appreciate the extent to which this judgment has clarified in detail the Responsibilities of a Minister and the Executive President. I have no doubt that this judgment will stand in good stead for future Ministers and Presidents when carrying out their supervisory duties and exccutive functions.