Category: Legal

Colombo, (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s first woman chief justice faced the threat of dismissal from office after a parliamentary panel on Saturday found her guilty of three accusations of professional misconduct. The charges against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake have raised international concerns that the government is trying to control the judiciary after crushing Tamil rebels […]

COLOMBO, Dec 9, 2012 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s main opposition party asked the Commonwealth Sunday to investigate the impeachment of the country’s chief justice in what it called a breach of the bloc’s democratic values. Opposition spokesman and former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera urged the group’s secretary general Kamelesh Sharma to order his disciplinary body, […]

Dec 07, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s chief justice Shirani Bandaranayake has walked out of a parliamentary committee with her lawyers saying she had been denied due process, in the latest twist in a controversial impeachment process. Leaked reports showed that her lawyers had denied charges in an impeachment motion. An impeachment motion was launched […]

COLOMBO, Dec 7, 2012 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s top judge Shirani Bandaranayake stormed out of her impeachment hearing after government lawmakers called her a “mad woman” and displayed open hostility, her lawyers said Friday. The move to impeach the country’s first female chief justice came after she scuttled several bills, including one that gave more […]

Dec 07, 2012 (LBO) – World Bank group’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, which provides political risk cover for foreign investors, said expropriation risks are rising in developing countries, with Argentina, Bolivia and Sri Lanka coming into prominence in the recent past. “Expropriation”which was an important threat to foreign investors in the developing world a few […]

Dec 07, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has called for “mutual respect and trust between the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary” in the wake of an ongoing controversial impeachment of the country’s chief justice. Lawyers representing the Chief Justice has said she was called a ‘mad woman’ by legislators in a […]

Dec 07, 2012 (LBO) – Lawyers for Sri Lanka’s chief justice Shirani Bandaranayake has explained why she walked out, after she was called names, was not allowed to cross examine witnesses and was given a large bundle of document which was expected to be answered in a day. The statement is reproduced below: Today the […]

Dec 07, 2012 (LBO) – The United States embassy in Colombo expressed concern about Sri Lanka’s judiciary and urged that the island’s chief justice who is being impeached guaranteed due process and rule of law. “We urge that the Government of Sri Lanka and the Parliamentary Select Committee investigating the Chief Justice ensure any investigation […]

Dec 02, 2012 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan stock broking firm has compensated a client who complained to the Colombo Stock Exchange alleging unauthorized trading which led to massive losses during a collapsed stock market bubble. Taprobane Securities, chief executive had earlier been removed by the regulator following a controversial deal involving the attempted sale […]

Nov 21, 2012 (LBO) – Friday Forum, a citizen group said impeachment proceedings launched against Sri Lanka’s chief justice was “deeply flawed” and is perceived as an attack on institution that is independently working in the public interest. The Friday Forum said the process by a select committee was flawed and has attracted criticism from […]

Nov 09, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s chief justice has denied charges in an impeachment motion in parliament, giving details over allegations of undeclared assets and the purchase of propety in a letter sent through her lawyers to the media. “Our Client instructs us to state that she will, as always, continue to duly and […]

Nov 07, 2012 (LBO) – Charges made public against Sri Lanka’s chief justice in an impeachment motion signed by more than a 100 ruling coalition parliamentarians include non declaration of assets and the purchase of a house. Sri Lanka’s ruling administration has been has been unhappy at several rulings of the supreme court in recent […]