Mon, Nov 26, 2018, 02:06 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 26, Colombo: United National Party (UNP, the majority party in Sri Lanka’s parliament has called on the President Maithripala Sirisena to subject himself to a probe he has proposed to inquire into the corruption and fraud that took place in the unity government during Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe tenure.
President Sirisena meeting with foreign correspondents on Sunday said a presidential commission will be appointed to inquire into the fraud in Central Bank as well as other acts of fraud and corruption occurred during the period of 2015 to 25th of October 2018 while Ranil Wickremesinghe was the Prime Minister and that would reveal more issues on fraud and corruption happened during that period to the country as well as to the people in the near future.
Responding to President’s statement, Chairman of the UNP, parliamentarian Kabir Hashim pointed out that the President Sirisena was the Head of the Government as well as the Head of the State and if there were corruption and fraud in the government, the President is also equally responsible.
MP Hashim said the President has yet again tried to justify the illegal removal of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the 26th of October 2018 by saying, it was due to corruption and that a Presidential Commission of inquiry will be established to look into cases of corruption between Jan 2015 and Oct 2018.
“The government that operated during this period was in no way ‘A Ranil Wickremesinghe Government’,” Hashim said.
“President Maithripala Sirisena who headed the National Unity Government was not only the Head of State but also the Head of Government. All decisions were made by a Cabinet chaired by the President. If there was corruption in the past 3½ years as the President says, the President has equally to share the blame.”
The UNP Chairman welcoming the appointment of a Presidential Commission to look into this period insisted that President Sirisena should not make himself immune to the investigation.
“We also insist that President Sirisena is not made immune to the investigation himself,” he said.
Responding to President’s vow not to appoint Ranil Wickremesinghe as PM in his lifetime, even if legally proven that he commands the confidence of the majority in the House, MP Kabir Hashim said the statement is a blatant violation of the fundamentals of Parliamentary Democracy.
“This is yet another blatant violation of the fundamentals of Parliamentary Democracy. The President has no choice but to act within the framework of Constitutional Provisions and the Constitution does not make provisions for personal vendettas.”
The UNP also reminded President Sirisena that he is not president for life.
“Finally, the United National Party would also like to remind President Sirisena that he has not been elected for a life time and that his term as President comes to an end in less than 12 months.”
SRI LANKA 