Counsel claims threat to life

By Stanley Samarasinghe-Wednesday, 30 Jan 2013 A Counsel for a petitioner, who has filed a Fundamental Rights case where newly-appointed Chief Justice, Mohan Pieris is a respondent, said in courts yesterday that he is under tremendous pressure to withdraw from the case. Naganada Kodituwakku, Counsel for the petitioner of the Fundamental Rights Petition No. 536/2010, in which the former Attorney General and present Chief Justice, as well as Treasury Secretary, P.B. Jayasundera, are cited as respondents, filed a motion before Supreme Court claiming that his life is under threat. The petition was filed by T.R. Ratnasiri, Assistant Superintendent of Customs. The Petitioner claims the Colombo Dockyard Company had sold marine crafts without obtaining prior approval from the Board of Investment or paying fiscal levies to the Department of Customs. It also alleged the company had collected the entire fiscal duty of Rs 619 million from the buyers, Sri Lanka Navy and the Ports Authority, without paying a single cent to the Customs. The Petitioner sought direction to quash and annul an unlawful decision that the Secretary to the Treasury and the then Attorney General had taken to recover the Customs Duty defrauded by the said Company, in terms of Section 18A of the Customs Ordinance, and instead to proceed under Section 50A and 129 of the Customs Ordinance. The Petitioner in this case alleged there are serious allegations levelled against the then Attorney General Mohan Peiris, who is now CJ, and Secretary to the Treasury P.B. Jayasundera, for their alleged dishonourable conduct in defrauding public funds. Counsel Kodituwakku alleged the case has been fixed for support more than 15 times and yet it was never allowed to be supported over a period of two years, due to various delaying tactics adopted by the Respondents, particularly the former AG, whose official duty was to uphold the rule of law and not to protect the interest of fraudsters and criminals. In his motion, the Counsel stated he had arrived from Britain to Sri Lanka on 21 January 2013, to discharge his petitioner, after having reported the threat to his life to the Commonwealth Secretariat in the UK. After arriving in Sri Lanka, he had been warned by email that he had returned to Sri Lanka at his own risk and any further steps taken by him to support the application would end up with fatal results. The Counsel had reported to the Mirihana Police on 23 January, that under prevailing circumstances, he fears he may not be in a position to support this matter on 31 January 2013, but he would make every endeavour to appear in Court to support the application. The Counsel moved that in the event of his being prevented from presenting the case on 31 January 2012, he be given another date. 2013, he be given a another date.