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| Mohan Peris |
Lalith Kotalawala, a frontline businessman had been
subjected to a miscarriage of justice whereby the prosecutor who filed the
action against him had himself heard the case . This most depraved and
deplorable judicial hearing involved the Attorney General (AG) Mohan
Peiris who filed the charges then against Kotalawala, hearing the case
now against Kotalawala the accused. When the case was heard on 18 Dec 2013
Peiris the former AG and present chief justice sat as the judge in this case.
We give herein details of the injustice that is being meted
out by the Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksha’s Kangaroo courts which has become a
matter of routine in Sri
Lanka’s judicial system under MR.
In 2008 , a case No. 4136/2008 was filed in the Mt. Lavinia
court against Golden Key Co. belonging to Kotalawala. While the case was being
heard Kotalawala was remanded. A Director of that Co. Kavan Perera was made an
accused.
Several years prior to this in 2002, the Golden Key Co. had
filed an action against the Central Bank of Ceylon. Then, it was the Lawyer
Mohan Peiris who appeared as the for Kavan Perera. Thereafter Mohan
Peiris was functioning as the legal advisor to the Central Bank. Naturally
these strange coincidences sent out a wave of rude shock.
Subsequently this same Mohan Peiris who became
AG made a request to confiscate Kotalawala’s estate. So, it is this same Peiris
who handed over the charge sheet against Kotalwala (case No. 5675/2011). The
Seylan Bank whose chairman was Kotalawala , was taken under the control of the
government with the confiscation of assets of Kotalawala. AG Mohan Peiris who went on retirement was
then appointed as chairman of Seylan Bank. This Peiris going around and around
Kotalawala and his precious interests was not for nothing, for Peiris was going
round and round Kotalawala not to dispense justice, but rather to persecute and
mete out the worst injustice to the latter.
It is Incredible but true!
Peiris after ordering the confiscation of assets of Kotalawala, and sending
Kotalawala to jail , Peiris himself got appointed to the post of chairman of
Seylan Bank after displacing Kotalawala from that seat.
Now, it is this same Mohan Pieris who is also
hearing the case No. S C F R 191/2009 filed by Golden Key depositors in the
Supreme Court (SC)
The rudest, and most atrocious part of the Kangaroo court
drama of MR regime is : one of the defendants in the case filed by the
depositors is the Central Bank and when this case was filed against the Central
Bank, this Mohan Peiris was the legal advisor to the Central Bank.
In other words he was himself indirectly an accused being part of the Bank. Today,
this same accused is the chief justice and the judge hearing Kotalawala’s case.
Nowhere in this planet, not even in the planet of the apes, cases like these
are heard so shamelessly and unscrupulously going by the most corrupt and
depraved machinations resorted to by the powers that be with vested interests.
The total sum payable to Golden Key Co. depositors is Rs. 7.5
Billion. The value of the assets of the company alone is Rs. 5.5 Billion which
the government has confiscated. In addition the private assets worth Rs. 1.5
billion belonging to Kotalawala have also been confiscated by the government. Yet
, not even five cents have been paid to any depositor so far. In other words
this regime which is a byword for murder , underworld activities , corruption
and abductions has in keeping with its criminal habits plundered these monies
ruthlessly .after making Kotalawala a scapegoat.
It is as clear as daylight from the foregoing facts
that the prosecutors who filed charges are themselves hearing trials and giving
judgments.
Neither the
depositors received any relief nor Kotalawala the aggrieved party. It is very
unfortunate that , because Kotalawala is a capitalist , the Leftists do not
stand by him. Because he changed religion , the Sangha monks do not speak on
his behalf. Even the opposition does not talk for him because he has no progeny
to carry forward his family ancestry. The media too does not espouse his cause
because there is nothing that they can get out of him. Since he cannot be used
for their projects, NGO’s too are uncaring. Those with the cruel opinion ‘why
should we care, after all it is the man with wealth who had got trapped’ also
are taking no notice.
No matter what , the legal sphere nevertheless is absolutely
under a duty to address this issue with the urgency it merits as this is a
classic illustration of injustice and villainy committed in the very name of
justice specially because the entire judicial apparatus and judicial
Institutions have been subjugated most disgracefully to achieve these unlawful
goals by the powers that be.
No matter what, it is
a policy of Lanka e news to expose any injustice committed on any individual or
Institution irrespective of whether they are poor or rich. Today, we are
exposing this tragic episode of injustice involving Lalith Kotalawala because
this does not affect only Kotalawala , but it may be another person.
This is an edited version of the original article published
in the lanka-e-news