The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) today handed over a complaint against the Chief of the Bribery Commission, Jagath De Silva Balapatabendi to the Bribery Commission, alleging that he received kickbacks after having sat on a Supreme Court bench, which released a consignment of vehicles.
JVP MP Sunil Handuneththi said the only authority that the public can complaint of corruption is now under allegations of corruption and that officials of the institutes appointed to investigate corruption should be clean.
“This is the only place where people could complaint regarding Bribery and Corruption and the integrity of that institution has now been questioned with the head of the Commission being allegedly charged of accepting bribes,” he said.
He further said that this was the first time such a situation had arisen in the country.
“This is the first time that there has been a situation where the head of the Bribery Commissioner’s actions have been called to be investigated by the Commission itself and this is a very unfortunate situation” JVP Sunil Handuneththi told reporters after handing over the petition.
He said that the conduct of the former Supreme Court judge is questionable and alleged that Justice Balapatabendi had tampered with documents pertaining to a vehicle.
“ Not only had he used a vehicle that he had released, he has also registered the vehicle in his name and registered the Revenue Licenses in another person’s name , which is a cause for a lot of suspicion,” he said.
He further alleged that Justice Balapatabendi had thereafter backdated the dates of transfer, tampering with the documents pertaining to it.
“While still using the vehicle he had pretended to have transferred it and backdated the documents, which is a serious cause for concern,” Handuneththi said.
He called on the Bribery Chief to resign from his position pending the conclusion of the investigation.
“He has to resign from his position until he vindicates himself from these allegations,” he said.
He further said that it is the responsibility of the President as the appointing authority of the Commission to ensure a swift and transparent investigation into the incident.
“ The President has to immediately intervene and appoint an independent commission to investigate this. Corruption in this country often has state sponsorship and this must be stopped forthwith,” he said. ( Sanath Desmond)
DM