COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s ruling party has accused Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake of 14 counts of financial corruption and misconduct in an impeachment motion which was published yesterday.
“She has plunged the entire Supreme Court and specially the office of the Chief Justice into disrepute,” said the motion, printed in the parliamentary agenda and signed by 117 United People’s Freedom Alliance lawmakers.
Among the accusations is a charge that she had nine bank accounts which were not revealed in her assets declaration on taking office in May 2011. She is also accused of failing to declare around $250,000 in foreign currency.
Officials had last week confirmed that members of President Mahinda Rajapakse’s party had submitted an impeachment motion but did not give any details of the charges.
The drive towards impeaching the 54-year-old followed a decision last month by the Supreme Court to effectively scupper a bill giving more powers to economic development minister who is the president’s younger brother, Basil.
Although an impeachment motion only needs a minimum of 113 votes in the 225-member chamber to succeed, the process itself could take months.
The United States voiced concern last Friday about the move to impeach Bandaranayake, who is Sri Lanka’s first female chief justice, and called on the government to protect the independence of the judiciary.
The impeachment motion is the latest sign of efforts by Rajapakse to tighten his grip on power after crushing the Tamil Tiger separatist rebels in 2009.
It comes as international human rights call for an independent inquiry into the deaths of civilians during Sri Lanka’s three-decade civil war.
AFP
