The UNP MP Thalatha Atukorale has been appointed as Sri Lanka's new justice minister, after Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was forced to resign over allegations of corruption. His portfolio has been divided between Ms Atukorale and Gamini Jayawickrama who has been appointed the new minister of Buddha Sasana. Ms Atukorale came into politics in 2004, following the death of her brother, the UNP MP and assistant party leader. In March 2014, the Colombo Page reported as a then UNP MP she was to accompany the then government's delegation to the UN Human Rights council along side fellow UNP MP Lakshman...
Sri Lanka's State Minister of Skills Development and Vocational Training Palitha Range Bandara was acquitted on Friday by Colombo's High Court. Mr Bandara had been charged with fraud along side a businessman Nalinda Jagath Kumara Liyanage who were accused of 'aiding and abetting to present a vehicle registration permit for an illegally assembled vehicle', Colombo Page reported. The paper noted that the trial was supposed to take place two days previously however, Mr Bandara's lawyer told the court 'the first and second witnesses have informed that they are not interested in the case and that...
Six people have been arrested today after two Sri Lankan soldiers were attacked in Kilinochchi on Thursday night. The soldiers from the Murugandi Army base were reportedly attacked by a group of youths near the Oottrupulam market by a sharp object. Local sources said the soldiers were Tamil and were on leave in their hometown of Oottrupulam.
Members of the Northern Provincial Council held an awareness protest at the Council's sitting today, calling for the release of Tamil political prisoners.
The Asian Development Bank pledged to allocate up to US $5 billion over the next five years in efforts to move Sri Lanka to an upper middle income country reports sundaytimes.lk. The bank’s Country Director Sri Widowati told press that the assistance would aim to strengthen drivers of growth and improve the quality Sri Lanka’s growth. A senior economist at the ADB Tadateru Hayashi said, “We feel that the basic infrastructures is developed and the road density is the best in South Asia.” The ADB currently has 31 ongoing projects worth a total of $3.4 billion in Sri Lanka. It has also approved...
The chief minister of the Northern Province, C V Wigneswaran said on Thursday that the NPC would not back the proposed 20th Amendment to Sri Lanka's constitution. He said the amendment was aimed at concentrating Provincial Council powers within the parliament. The amendment which aims to hold all the Provincial Council elections on the same day was last month approved by the Cabinet and tabled in parliament on Wednesday. It would be discussed by the NPC on September 4th, the chief minister said. The draft Amendment removes the power of Provincial Councils to call for early elections and...
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) on Thursday called on the Sri Lankan government to "swiftly operationalise" the Office on Missing Persons. The statement which came on the one year anniversary of the enactment of the OMP bill said, the ICJ "also urged the Government to set up other transitional justice mechanisms it committed to in the context of a key 2015 UN Human Rights Council resolution, without further delay." The ICJ said: "On 23 August 2016, the OMP Act received the Speaker’s assent and became law. Even after one year, however, the Office has not been operationalized...
Sri Lanka's new navy commander said "the navy uniform is not a license to kill, steal or commit any other crime", stating that those found guilty of commiting a crime would be punished. "No one will be pardoned if someone within the Navy is found guilty of any crime even if the person is a war hero," he was quoted by Colombo Page as saying. "A war hero cannot be a murderer but no naval personnel will be allowed to go free if found guilty," he reportedly added. "Even a navy personnel if responsible for such an offence should be punished according to the existing laws."
Sri Lanka's health minister is the third minister in weeks to face calls for his resignation, after a no-confidence motion was handed over to the Speaker. The motion against Rajitha Senaratne was signed by 39 Joint opposition MPs, the Daily Mirror reported. This week, the justice minister was expelled from parliament after UNP MPs accused him of stalling investigations into corruption and fraud by the previous government. The finance minister was earlier forced to resign over allegations of corruption.
A former Sri Lankan diplomat who is wanted for questioning over financial irregularities in relation to a military aircraft deal has had an appeal rejected by a court in Colombo this week. Lawyers for Udayanga Weeratunga, a former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia, called for a recall of his arrest warrant and a restoration of his diplomatic passport. Mr Weeratunga, a relative of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, is alleged to have personally acquired almost US$ 14 million, as part of a Sri Lankan military deal for four Ukraine-built MIG-27 aircraft in 2005. His appeal was rejected by the...