Lawyers criticize speaker and MPs

BY RUWAN LAKNATH JAYAKODY-2015-04-23 

Criticizing the Speaker for questioning the Chairman of the Bribery Commission about a pending inquiry, Lawyers for Democracy (LfD) condemned certain MPs for attempting to interfere and intimidate the Commission from inquiring into allegations against powerful personalities.

Viewing the Speaker's action of calling the Commission Chairman and questioning him with alarm, Convener for LfD, Lal Wijenayake said that the Speaker had no legal or moral right to interfere in an ongoing investigation.
If an individual has a grievance against any person or any institution he/she has the remedy of resorting to legal action by way of a writ and/or by way of a fundamental rights application, LfD observed.

"The independence of the institutions of the State has to be protected. The legislature and the Executive have no right to interfere in the administrational justice. This is an affront to the rule of law and democratic governance. The law has to apply equally to all citizens, regardless of however, mighty they may be. This dangerous development has to be checked.

"The people at the last presidential election clearly voted for the abolition of the executive presidential system due to the abuse and misuse of power that was witnessed during the past few years. The people have given the President a clear mandate to uphold to the rule of law. The President must see to it that the rule of law prevails. This is also the wish of the civil society, trade unions, university teachers, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and other organizations of lawyers, artists and media, which led the struggle to restore the rule of law in a united fight against this dangerous trend," he added.