Pursuit of justice

Editorial-February 1, 2016, 7:40 pm 

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has asked the government to arrest him and spare his family members. He says the recent arrest of his second son, Yoshitha, is part of a sinister campaign to force him into submission. His political opponents have welcomed legal action against Yoshitha and they have even predicted some more arrests.

Let there be no argument about the need to institute legal action against those who abused power and amassed wealth through illegal means under the previous government. That is exactly what the vast majority of people who voted for the present government have unequivocally asked for. However, the question is whether justice is seen to be done.

The government will have a hard time, trying to convince the discerning public that its hunt for the wrongdoers of the previous government is devoid of a political agenda. For, the ruling party politicians predict arrests weeks in advance and the government’s friends within the Opposition ranks invariably raise questions in Parliament about the persons to be arrested so that the government’s answers thereto will show the suspects in a bad light. Thereafter, arrests are made and the suspects remanded. This has been the trend since the change of government in January 2015.

What one should be concerned about is the country’s democratic well-being not anyone’s interests. The Rajapaksas, while they were ensconced in power, thought they were invincible and subjugated the law of the land to their political and personal interests. ‘Show arrests’ and show trials which characterised the previous administration unfortunately continue; they are bound to have an adverse impact on what remains of the credibility of the law enforcement and judicial processes. The Rajapaksas are crying foul today. The boot will be on the other foot the day the present-day rulers are out of power. Hence, the pressing need for ridding the investigative and judicial processes of partisan politics so that justice will prevail!

The government is, no doubt, under pressure to fulfil its election pledges, bringing the rogues of the previous administration to justice being one of them. But, it ought to be mindful of the fact that any attempt to accelerate the investigative and judicial process unnecessarily will only make its efforts look politically-motivated and aimed at the next election.

It is well nigh impossible to trace the ill-gotten wealth of politicians who have been in power for a long time. They cover their tracks and ensure that no charges can be pinned on them. The fact that the incumbent government has failed to prove allegations of corruption against the grandees of the previous administration does not mean that those characters are squeaky clean. Perhaps, the government will never be able to make most of them or even all of them pay for their sins legally however hard it may try. That is the reality.

There have been many crooks who have thrived on corrupt deals under UNP and SLFP governments and they have all got away with their offences because they concealed their trails effectively. Some of them who possessed only rickety cars in 1977, when they were first elected to Parliament, amassed enough wealth to buy estates down under and mansions in Blighty within a few years in office. The late Anura Bandaranaike as an Opposition MP once famously said in Parliament that he knew of an SLFP stalwart cum minister who was a proud owner of many vehicles, several houses and estates, both here and abroad, though the latter, in penury, had ridden an old bicycle wearing flip-flops before entering politics.

It hurts every parent to see his or her children arrested and thrown into hellholes that are our prisons. The practice of setting the police on Opposition politicians and their family members is not of recent origin. Weeks before the last Presidential election, Opposition common candidate, Maithripala Sirisena’s son, Daham, was linked to a stash of foreign currency amounting to Rs. 160 mn, which the CID and the Central Bank officials found and produced before the Mt. Lavinia Court. The then government did its damnedest to have the young man arrested, but in vain. The police at that time made a hue and cry about that detection of foreign currency exactly the way the present-day police spokesman is doing as regards the allegations against Yoshitha. Incidentally, it will be interesting to know from the CID and the Central Bank what has become of the investigations into that probe.