Professional Documents
Culture Documents
witch-hunt?
2015-11-16
aw and Order
Minister Tilak Marapana resigned last
week after an uproar in the Cabinet,
over his perceived pussyfooting on
the ongoing investigation into the floating armoury of the Avant Garde
Maritime Service Limited (AGMSL).
Mr. Marapanas only offence, it appears, that he earlier told Parliament
that the considered opinion of the Attorney General was that there was no
considerable and admissible evidence to institute a legal case against the
weapons that were found in the ship, MV Mahanuwara during a police raid.
The docked ship was raided at the Galle Harbour soon after the Presidential
election in January this year. (Last month, a second ship, MV Avant Garde
was raided when it returned to the Galle Harbour after a voyage in the Red
sea)
Mr. Marapana who himself was a former Attorney General and leading
lawyer stood by the AGs department, while some of the boisterous
members of his Cabinet and several others outside appeared to suggest
The AGs department, after considering evidence submitted by the CID and
observations made by the Defence Ministry and Sri Lanka Navy, has
decided that there was no ground to take legal action against the AGMSL
under the Fire Arms Ordinance, Explosive Act or the Prevention of Terrorism
Act. CID has been advised to submit any evidence of corruption related to
the management of the company to the Commission to Investigate
Allegations of Bribery or Corruption. A separate probe into alleged
corruption and money laundering is now being undertaken by the Bribery
Commission.
AGMSL was providing private maritime companies with weapons, which
were issued to it by the RALL. Those weapons were to provide security to
ships against maritime piracy. Sri Lankan Navy provided the service until
2012, until it handed the business to AGMSL.
Now the government has decided to revoke the monopoly of the AGMSL.
The Navy has taken over the provision of weapons to private maritime
security companies. Under government orders, RALL has decided to
discontinue its engagement in maritime security.
Private Military Companies (PMC), a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide,
are not new to Sri Lanka. In the 80s, when much of the world shunned us
after the Black July, South African PMCs trained some specialized units of
the army. Maritime security firms have recently become a thriving industry
as despondent Somalies make sea piracy a multi-million dollar business.
"If the AGMSL and any government officials have flouted the law,
it needs to be investigated. However, the Attorney General has
decided that there were no admissible grounds for legal action.
Under the normal circumstance, the controversy which has
become an embarrassment for the new government would have
been laid to rest."
If the AGMSL and any government officials
have flouted the law, it needs to be
investigated. However, the Attorney
General has decided that there were no
admissible grounds for legal action. Under
the normal circumstance, the controversy
which has become an embarrassment for
the new government would have been laid
to rest.
However, this case is an exception due to
the involvement of one man: Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa.
A few of his opponents want to hound him - no matter the legal grounds for
such an action.
Therefore, mutual recrimination within the government ranks over the
Avant Garde probe is not just a power game among a few politicos. It is now
becoming a witch-hunt, which threatens to undermine the independence of
institutions that the government pledged to foster, one of which being the
judiciary.
Last week, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka raised concerns over what it
described as a spate of and growing vilification and personal attacks on
the members of the judiciary and Attorney Generals Department, and the
attempts to summon the AG before Parliament.
Sri Lankan politics is cheap. It has not changed much under the Yahapalana
government. The danger is that some politicians, in the government, in the
opposition and outside Parliament, tend to think that the Attorney General
should kow-tow to them.
Their attempts to vilify independent institutions and their office holders
bode ill for the future of our democracy. In fact, we should celebrate the
new found sense of independence in our judiciary. That the judiciary now
rules by the law, and not by the dictates of the self-interested politicos is an
admirable sign.