Supreme Court finds Rajapaksa brothers guilty over economic crisis

The Supreme Court has found the Rajapaksa brothers guilty of causing the economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

The Supreme Court ruled that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa were among those responsible for the crisis which led the country to bankruptcy last year.

The crisis resulted in major street protests last year forcing the Rajapaksas to resign and give way to the appointment of a new administration led by current President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The Supreme Court also found that former Central Bank Governors Ajith Nivard Cabraal and Prof. W.D. Lakshman, former Finance Secretary S.R. Attygalle, former Presidential Secretary P.B. Jayasundara and the Monetary Board members of the Central Bank had violated the fundamental rights of the people.

The ruling was delivered based on the majority view of the five-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya.

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), along with co-petitioners Chandra Jayaratne, Jehan CanagaRetna and Julian Bolling, filed this Fundamental Rights Petition (SC/FRA/212/2022) on June 17, 2022, calling for action against persons responsible for the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. It was filed in the public interest, considering the lack of accountability and transparency in high level decision-making that has brought Sri Lanka to its knees.

Given that Petitioners came to Court in the interest of public and did not seek compensation for themselves, the Court was not inclined to order compensation other than costs incurred by Petitioners.

The petition by TISL, Chandra Jayaratne, Jehan CanagaRetna and Julian Bolling claimed that the respondents named in the petition were directly responsible for the unsustainability of Sri Lanka?s foreign debt, its hard default on foreign loan repayments and the current state of the economy of Sri Lanka. The petitioners called for the respondents to be held accountable for their illegal, arbitrary and unreasonable acts or omissions which culminated in the unprecedented crisis.

The Petitioners argued that the fundamental rights of the citizens to equality, freedom of expression and the right to information guaranteed under the Constitution had been violated through the actions or inactions of the respondents, among other rights.

It added that the actions and inaction of the respondents led to the shortages of food, medicine, fuel and LP Gas in the country, victimising the entire population in an unprecedented manner.

The petition highlighted that the reduction in Government revenue caused by the tax breaks, failure to reverse the tax breaks, the decision to continue servicing sovereign debt without any restructuring, and the refusal to seek the assistance of the IMF were among the main factors that caused the economic crisis.

Chandaka Jayasundera, PC, appeared for the Petitioners along with S.A. Beling, Chinthaka Fernando, Sayuri Liyanasuriya and Manisha Dissanayake. (Colombo Gazette)