Addressing an award ceremony at Temple Trees, Rajapaksa asserted that as a lawyer himself he had absolute confidence in the independence of the judiciary.
He went on to say:
“High Court judges are appointed by the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice is appointed by the president. The president is appointed by the people. If the president commits an offence he can be impeached. For the impeachment a minimum of 113 Members of Parliament must sign. The Chief Justice must carry out the orders of the legislature. The unseating of the Chief Justice rests with legislature”
“President Premadasa had a narrow escape from impeachment as the then Speaker Mohamed rejected those who attempted to impeach him. There are attempts to topple this government backed by the spirit of separatism and those who supported the LTTE."
“It was the JVP that said there were suspicions regarding the dealings of the husband of the Chief Justice. It was they who lodged complaints against him with the Bribery Commission. Now they are scolding me for the impeachment. The JVP says one thing in the morning and something else in the afternoon. But we cannot do that. We do what we say and we say what we do,”
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