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| Mohan Peris |
Lalith Kotalawala, a frontline businessman had been subjected to a miscarriage of justice whereby the prosecutor who filed the action against him had himself heard the case . This most depraved and deplorable judicial hearing involved the Attorney General (AG) Mohan Peiris who filed the charges then against Kotalawala, hearing the case now against Kotalawala the accused. When the case was heard on 18 Dec 2013 Peiris the former AG and present chief justice sat as the judge in this case.
We give herein details of the injustice that is being meted out by the Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksha’s Kangaroo courts which has become a matter of routine in Sri Lanka’s judicial system under MR.
In 2008 , a case No. 4136/2008 was filed in the Mt. Lavinia court against Golden Key Co. belonging to Kotalawala. While the case was being heard Kotalawala was remanded. A Director of that Co. Kavan Perera was made an accused.
Several years prior to this in 2002, the Golden Key Co. had filed an action against the Central Bank of Ceylon. Then, it was the Lawyer Mohan Peiris who appeared as the for Kavan Perera. Thereafter Mohan Peiris was functioning as the legal advisor to the Central Bank. Naturally these strange coincidences sent out a wave of rude shock.
Subsequently this same Mohan Peiris who became AG made a request to confiscate Kotalawala’s estate. So, it is this same Peiris who handed over the charge sheet against Kotalwala (case No. 5675/2011). The Seylan Bank whose chairman was Kotalawala , was taken under the control of the government with the confiscation of assets of Kotalawala. AG Mohan Peiris who went on retirement was then appointed as chairman of Seylan Bank. This Peiris going around and around Kotalawala and his precious interests was not for nothing, for Peiris was going round and round Kotalawala not to dispense justice, but rather to persecute and mete out the worst injustice to the latter.
It is Incredible but true! Peiris after ordering the confiscation of assets of Kotalawala, and sending Kotalawala to jail , Peiris himself got appointed to the post of chairman of Seylan Bank after displacing Kotalawala from that seat.
Now, it is this same Mohan Pieris who is also hearing the case No. S C F R 191/2009 filed by Golden Key depositors in the Supreme Court (SC)
The rudest, and most atrocious part of the Kangaroo court drama of MR regime is : one of the defendants in the case filed by the depositors is the Central Bank and when this case was filed against the Central Bank, this Mohan Peiris was the legal advisor to the Central Bank. In other words he was himself indirectly an accused being part of the Bank. Today, this same accused is the chief justice and the judge hearing Kotalawala’s case. Nowhere in this planet, not even in the planet of the apes, cases like these are heard so shamelessly and unscrupulously going by the most corrupt and depraved machinations resorted to by the powers that be with vested interests.
The total sum payable to Golden Key Co. depositors is Rs. 7.5 Billion. The value of the assets of the company alone is Rs. 5.5 Billion which the government has confiscated. In addition the private assets worth Rs. 1.5 billion belonging to Kotalawala have also been confiscated by the government. Yet , not even five cents have been paid to any depositor so far. In other words this regime which is a byword for murder , underworld activities , corruption and abductions has in keeping with its criminal habits plundered these monies ruthlessly .after making Kotalawala a scapegoat.
It is as clear as daylight from the foregoing facts that the prosecutors who filed charges are themselves hearing trials and giving judgments.
Neither the depositors received any relief nor Kotalawala the aggrieved party. It is very unfortunate that , because Kotalawala is a capitalist , the Leftists do not stand by him. Because he changed religion , the Sangha monks do not speak on his behalf. Even the opposition does not talk for him because he has no progeny to carry forward his family ancestry. The media too does not espouse his cause because there is nothing that they can get out of him. Since he cannot be used for their projects, NGO’s too are uncaring. Those with the cruel opinion ‘why should we care, after all it is the man with wealth who had got trapped’ also are taking no notice.
No matter what , the legal sphere nevertheless is absolutely under a duty to address this issue with the urgency it merits as this is a classic illustration of injustice and villainy committed in the very name of justice specially because the entire judicial apparatus and judicial Institutions have been subjugated most disgracefully to achieve these unlawful goals by the powers that be.
No matter what, it is a policy of Lanka e news to expose any injustice committed on any individual or Institution irrespective of whether they are poor or rich. Today, we are exposing this tragic episode of injustice involving Lalith Kotalawala because this does not affect only Kotalawala , but it may be another person.
This is an edited version of the original article published in the lanka-e-news