The government of Sri Lanka has decided to impeach two Supreme Court judges namely Rohini Marasinghe and Sarath De Abrew sources close to Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe told Colombo Telegraph.
Justice Rohini Marasinghe
According to the sources the government had concluded investigations into judge Rohini Marasinghe and especially her husband who was operating a legal consultancy that had direct links to the cases that was presided by his wife and her work concerned.
Judge Sarath De Abrew on the other hand who has a history of violent behavior, currently has a case pending against him at the Mount Lavinia Magistrates Courts filed by a woman who was assaulted by him with a pistol. The woman in concern had initially recorded her statement with the Mount Lavinia Police earlier on the 26th of June 2015.
In an earlier related incident Judge De Abrew had gone on to display his violent streak in the Business Lounge of the Bangalore airport where he verbally abused his colleagues when returning from a Judges conference. In that particular incident on the 23rd April 2013, he was reported to be boisterous for over a ten minute period. During that time Judge De Abrew had gone on to hit one of his colleagues with a bottle of water leaving many other onlooking passengers at the Business Class Lounge in awe.
This move comes in the wake as the government is on a drive to bring about discipline and professionalism to the judiciary.
The mop up operation to debar unscrupulous elements especially among the Supreme Court judges themselves, has already commenced with disciplinary inquiries being held for district judges and magistrates who were involved in politics and misconduct.
According to our source, the government has already concluded inquiries regarding many other judges who were in question.
Analyst / September 29, 2015
Excellent move .yahapalanaya. The right move to march forward to punish the Law and Order Specialists who are supposed to maintain law and order not the other way round.
Excellent move. Keep it up.
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backlash / September 29, 2015
The reputation of judges even in our higher courts have come to that low where litigants openly say they know what judgements can be “expected” from specifically named judges. The integrity of judges hit the lowest ebbs under the Rajapakses. Lawyer-Brokers cutting deals between clients and judges is now a normal thing. This is sad for a country that maintained high judicial standards until a few years ago.
It is time the judicial system regaining the confidence of a much harassed and cynical public.
Backlash
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Metteyya / September 30, 2015
It is no different in the United States. I can look at who appointed a judge, his political views, and prior rulings, and tell you within 95% certainty how he will rule in any given case. The unbiased, impartial judge is a complete myth!
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backlash / October 1, 2015
It is true appointment of some judges in the USA goes by political favour. However, the legal structure is strong, vigilant and vibrant there under the watchful eyes of an open system of justice and a fierce media. As such hanky-panky by judges is rare. Justice, if you will, is not available at a price there with lawyers acting as brokers between litigants and the judges. This, sadly was – and perhaps is – the case here, in many instances, in recent years. As we discuss this, we read of a case where the system has taken action to impeach two SC judges on allegations of instances of serious and deliberate malpractise.
Backlash
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Native Vedda / September 29, 2015
I can’t help thinking that there is Pie in the sky and Pigs can fly.
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srilal / September 29, 2015
NV ,
Could you please explain what makes you so sceptical of this good news ?
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paul / September 29, 2015
Native you are right. They are ‘cleaning up’ the judiciary in preparation for an ‘impartial’ domestic war crimes enquiry.
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Native Vedda / September 29, 2015
srilal
“Could you please explain what makes you so sceptical of this good news ?”
Could you give me a case which was seriously investigated, charged and the accused was sentenced adequately to fit the crime.
Those who were remanded on serious suspicion came out on bail. Goata got his passport back, Sajin, Basil …. out on bail, a number of them are back in parliament, police conduct its business as usual as they can’t resist beating up innocent unarmed civilian, the political brat is enjoying his holiday in USA, War criminals have been assured of their well being, non will be investigated nor charged, …………………. ……
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Ram / September 30, 2015
Serious suspicion is NO reason to imprison ANYONE. The AG has to decide whether there is sufficient evidence for a case to succeed in a Court of Law before it can even proceed. He does not want to look foolish before a judge.
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Amarasiri / September 29, 2015
RE:SC Judges Abrew And Marasinghe To Be Impeached – Political Judges To Be Punished
“The government of Sri Lanka has decided to impeach two Supreme Court judges namely Rohini Marasinghe and Sarath De Abrew sources close to Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe told Colombo Telegraph.”
Excellent!. This is True Yaha-Palanaya! A very good place to start.
Then, please move on to the polititians and other crooks.
The people are waiting and waiting and waiting…
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Waruna / September 29, 2015
hooe this is just the beginning Of the major shakeup looked forward to by all of us ( except the fans of corruption )
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gamini / September 29, 2015
I believe the Attorney General also should be taken to task for not being impartial and avoiding indicting the Corrupt. Files are held back of individuals who have Political connections. In fact the whole system should be purged of saboteurs, as they have been having it too good for too long with the Corrupt at the helm.
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Vetmahadeva / September 29, 2015
SC Judges Abrew And Marasinghe To Be Impeached – Political Judges To Be Punished
Too slow to act,
But the time have come to move on, true we cannot do anything by haste, surely Attorney General should have been in the firing line by now.
Slow and steady wins the race Yahapalanaya.
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frank / September 29, 2015
If the [Edited out] Attorney General cannot be removed by the President legally he too should be impeached, his qualifications annulled and prohibited from practicing law. If President is entitled to remove him, he should be kicked out naked into the street.
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srilal / September 29, 2015
In order to cleanse our judiciary following Judges past conduct must be scrutinized as well ,
Deepali Wijesundara, Zulfikar Razeen, Eva Wansundera , Gihan Pilapitiya etc.
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Dr Sharp / September 29, 2015
Gamini, you need evidence to prosecute anyone…
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srilal / September 29, 2015
Dr Sharp,
“Gamini, you need evidence to prosecute anyone… “
what more evidence one needs to prosecute AG , who let scot free KP and Avan Guard’s main culprits ? All those who were directly benefited from Mafia Regime need to scrutinized ? remember Judges giving political judgements on Students protests , Trade unions marches , general Public protests ? can any impartial judge deliver such verdicts ? i’ve mentioned few of the names, you may add few more names to the list .
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The Rogue Ayer / September 30, 2015
srilal,
“what more evidence one needs to prosecute AG , who let scot free KP”
I believe that the CID continues to investigate most of the JVP claims against KP. According to the AG the results of the CID investigation he has seen so far were not enough to prosecute KP.
The CID investigation has not been finished.
My question is will the CID ever finish their investigation?
According to media reports KP is protected by the Army in Kili. Why? This kind of protection is usually provided by the police or STF. KP, of course, is an unusual case as we all know. The rumour that KP worked for the Military Intelligence might explain why he is protected by the Army.
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srilal / September 30, 2015
The Rogue Ayer,
You are right , KP is a peculiar character , i still don’t know the exact details as to how KP was arrested in Malaysia/Thailand back in 2009 ? was it a volunteer surrender or Kapila Hendavitharan’s game plan ? reason for KP being provided with VIP security 24×7 , KP’s Assets , KP’s LTTE involvement etc , all these need answers ! don’t we feel the Lasantha Wickramathunga’s investigative journalism vacuum here now ? there is hardly any one is engaged in Investigative journalism today , earlier it was Lankaweb and lankaenews did the job , but now they also seem to repeating what others say.
As for AG , I think he was the one who said “NO” to MR’s game plan on 9 th Jan , but he continues to help the clan which-ever possible way , it’s called pay back time (gratitude).
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gamini / September 29, 2015
If you are sharp as your name’s sake and a Dr at that, then there is not much to look around for evidence. There is galore. His statement alone that KP is no a hardcore LTTEr is enough to convict this bugger, leave alone prosecuting him.
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rew / September 30, 2015
The Attorney General should have been No: 1 on the “clean up” list
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Jango / September 29, 2015
Excellent news!
Let’s hope this is the beginning of the end for all those who have been distorting the law to serve at the pleasure of the Rajapakses.
Next on the list should be the riff-raff who have inveigled their way into parliament. And after that the MAIN culprits.
Let the cleanup begin!
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dcn / September 29, 2015
Timely action though long overdue. Fair play and justice must prevail in the process of removing these judges.
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thumpane gamaya / September 29, 2015
must wait and see…Sarath de Abrew is a real crook…you cannot catch him that easily…when his rape case was exposed the guy went hibernating…this Abrew fellow is a pain for his neighbors too. he has mastered the ways to go underground when something of his is exposed in media and slowly comes back from his den when the heat is gone.Very shrewd operator.this chap can be seen smoking in his car window down parked in front of Maliban Junction everyday.three cops has to stand guard his Merc till he finishes his fag. Disgraceful behavior in the eyes of the passing public.
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Plato. / September 29, 2015
Will Dilan Perera,Anura Priyadharshana Yapa and Wimal Weerawansa be involved in the Impeachment process?
They have tremendous experience in using intemperate language as well.
MaRa used these three guys for the illegal Impeachment of former CJ.Shirani Bandaranayake!
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Uwise / September 29, 2015
To the Yahapalanaya,
Excellent work…..good start.
Many more to follow.
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Nagananda Kodituwakku / September 29, 2015
I believe that regulatory duty of lawyers should also be removed from the Chief Justice and vested in a separate independent body created by law.
And no lawyer should be allowed to practice law without an indemnity insurance of 10 million rupees, and every year they should be made to earn a practicing certificate. this is a must to protect the innocent citizens from corrupt lawyers and very important from the litigant’s view point.
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Ponkoh Sivakumaran / September 29, 2015
Corruption in the law is more deep seated than that to be cured by an independent commission. We see that legal education itself has been corrupted. Academics are plagiarists. Lawyers probably buy judgements from judges. It is incredible how many of the leading lawyers has so many cases without their being an ability on their part to manipulate dates of the cases with the complicity of judges. There is a general malaise here and is just reflective of the rest of society. Maybe, there should be an international court not only for war crimes but for all of the legal system so that the matters could be put right and a new beginning be made. If there is no independent judiciary, there can be no real democracy. It is crucial that this be put right but there will be no political will to do this. A fresh lot of political judges will be appointed by the new government.
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Ponkoh Sivakumaran / September 29, 2015
They should be appointed to the “hybrid” tribunal.
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Samy / September 29, 2015
Above comments are solid. Now we need action. Attorney General’s office must be cleaned, Law and order restored. Judges mental thinking improved and their educational standard upgraded to International status, so that, Sri Lanka’s reputation improved.
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justice / September 29, 2015
With this type of judges, there cannot be a fair inquiry into alleged war crimes, as envisaged by the UNHCR resolution.
This is known to UN and hence the requirement for commonwealth judges and lawyers, in the resolution.
But, it is reported that an altered version in Sinhala, is published by a daily newspaper to tell the public that it will be a ‘domestic’ inquiry with ‘advice’ from commonwealth judges!
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JO-JO / September 29, 2015
The Daily news paper mentioned [Edited out]
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mike / September 29, 2015
“SC judges Abrew and MaRasinghe to be impeached – Political judges to be punished.”
Remains to be seen, both were appointed by the former King, His Hexcellunacy Percy Mahendra Rajafucksa!
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anonymous / September 29, 2015
The best news I’ve come across so far for this year. Investigate their crimes as well.
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Harry Hatton / September 29, 2015
How did Rohini marasinghe buy[Edited out]
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Sylvia Haik / September 29, 2015
It should be made a criminal offence when judges do not declare any conflicts of interest, however slight, in the cases they preside over. The biggest culprits so far has been Supreme Court judges appointed by the Rajapakse regime, as every one of them appear appointed for a reason.
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Common Sense / September 29, 2015
Violence and corruption in the form of sitting in judgements on matters of consultancy made by the spouse is abhorrent and should not be tolerated specially if the miscreants are judges. They should be sacked on the spot. But how?
Are we going to use the same way that we used to impeach Shirani B? What about the Latimer House Principles and all that? What happens to the moves mooted at that time to have a better way to impeach a judge? And what if a future president asks the impeached judge to resume duties and say that the appointment of a succeeding judge is “void ab initio”?
Let not this be another “Bar Association Impeachment”.
I am not saying that two wrongs make a right. But in the past, senior judges got away with stealing wives of other people and the victims still suffer. Will that too be redressed by the Yahapalana Government? They also bought houses or luxurious flats. But only Shirani B was hounded out. Only Shirani’s Asset declarations were scrutinized thoroughly. What about others?
Clearly “Some are more equal than others” and let that not get better in this instance.
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Nimal / September 29, 2015
Our legal system is utterly corrupt where court cases go on for decades without a decision.Judges are responsible for the situation and I will be delighted if these judges are sent to jail.
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renu / September 29, 2015
Thilakawardena Eva and few others too must be
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gage / September 29, 2015
Make me sometimes wonder the Govt. tactic is last minute shock and awe.
rather unpredictable.
Better late than never. let it be the beginning. I am bit cynical though it is selective punishment. The big sharks are still on the loose.
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Upul / September 29, 2015
These inquiries were held behind closed doors? Why? If the incidents and transactions involved are of public record as is the case of Abrews’ court case or Mr. Marasinghe’s consultancy practice; why the hora police tactics?
It looks like Minister Wijedasa has lost his scruples after becoming a cabinet minister.
Will somebody give Rajitha Senarathne his bi-polar medication please! Every other utterance of his makes us all look bad. The latest…to increase taxes on sugar, salt and oil to reduce chronic cardio vascular ailments. There are idiots and then there are smart idiots.
I remember another minister wanting to split the 220v electricity so we could double our production and prevent power cuts….
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jay gunasekara / September 29, 2015
I have two excellent candidates, Warawewa for chief justice and let him select the balance members of the court after impeaching the entire bench.Nagananda kodithuwakku as attorney general and here too the entire staff should be disbanded and Nagananda to decide the crew.The whole lawless situation can be brought under control if justice prevails.
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Jagath Fernando / September 29, 2015
Excellent news.
How about the other SC judges who were previously loitering at Temple Trees during MRs time before being appointed to SC?
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Douglas / September 29, 2015
If the story is true, I hope this Government would do it in the Proper manner of impeachment strictly as laid out in the Constitution. Then all will see how such matters are handled with all precautions taken to keep to the law. Then the people will understand how that earlier impeachment of the ex CJ was handled and how bad it was done.
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srinivasan / September 29, 2015
In a recent landmark verdict, the Supreme Court in India has decreed that clients can charge ( a fee ) lawyers who perpetually drag with dates.
It is a good example for us ,too.
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Uncommon man / September 30, 2015
What about the shameless Court of Appeal judges Nawaz and Gaffoor?
While serving in the AG’s department Nawaz hid important files from the then Attorney General Eva Wanasundera when dealing with matters pertaining to Petrolium Corporation.It is said Nawaz was paid substantial amount by beneficiaries.
Gaffoor,while being Magistrate of Avissawela raped/abused an under age child servant and his own wife complained to the Slave Island police but everything was swept under the carpet through the good offices of Minister Ashroff at that time.There was a Muslim lady doctor in the JMO’s office who made sure that the Medical report of the abused child revealed no injuries and no indication of sexual abuse.
Wonder how on earth they could sit in judgment over their fellow citizens.These two errant judges too should be impeached
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BBS Rep / September 30, 2015
Hold on people,
Don’t get carried away by this seemingly great news.
On the one hand we are trying to impeach errant judges.
On the other hand who is going to impeach our president for stacking up his cabinet with unrepresentative well known criminals some with 100 times more dangerous backgrounds than the ‘Enter the Dragon’ Bruce Lee emulating judge De Abrew. The president must also be impeached for practicing nepotism. Who will do it.
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Lion / September 30, 2015
Our best wishes to a quick clean up.What about the judges who give different judgements to people with influence such as Titan Alles and Gotabaya Rajapaksha?
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