15 June 2021 03:16 am Views - 237
The Attorney General’s Department has arbitrarily overruled findings by several department officers that former CID Director SSP Shani Abeysekara should be released due to lack of evidence to prosecute him, former Justice Minister and SJB MP Thalatha Athukorale has alleged.
Based on a statement she released in this regard, when contacted by the Daily Mirror, Athukorale said she came to know through her friends in the legal profession that a senior officer of the Attorney General’s Department ordered that Abeysekara and the other two former CID officers be held in remand for as long as possible.
“Without examining the underlying evidence, this senior officer of the Attorney General’s Department has ordered that the former CID Director and his colleagues are held as long as possible despite the fact that several other senior officials in the AG’s Department have stated that there is no credible evidence to support a prosecution on Abeysekara and his two officers, “ the former Justice Minister said.
Athukorale warned that since both the European Parliament and UN Human Rights Council have taken note of the arbitrary arrest and detention of Abeysekara for the past eleven months without charges, there is a risk of an economic catastrophe if countries that purchase around 6000 to 6500 items of garments from Sri Lanka determine that this country is a lawless and undemocratic country that arbitrarily punishes professional public servants for performing their duties.
“If we ignore the rest of the world, very soon we will lose GSP+ which was taken away during the Mahinda Rajapaksa tenure as well. It was our government after 2015 that were able to gain this but now if we lose it at this juncture, our economy will suffer immensely. We cannot keep putting our economic security in such danger merely to indulge in thirst for revenge and personal vendettas. Unless the government puts a stop to the witch hunt against Shani Abeysekara and all other political prisoners, we will certainly lose the much-needed GSP+ and hundreds of thousands of garment workers will lose their livelihood. As a former Minister of Justice, I appeal to the law officers of the AG’s Department to rise above politics.
Be professionals and do your jobs independently,” she said.
All attempts taken by this newspaper to contact Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam failed as he did not answer the calls nor respond to repeated messages sent requesting for a comment on the allegations levelled by Athukorale against the AG’s Department.