Minister of Justice Wijeyedasa Rajapakshe says his privileges as an MP has been violated when a newspaper reported his chambers were representing fraudster Thilini Priyamali in courts. Writing to the Speaker, the Minister has lodged a complaint in this regard saying the allegation is false. According to him, he has not been maintaining a law chamber since being appointed as a Minister. He also in his complaint said that Maithri Gunaratne PC had not made such a claim in courts and even communicated the same to him.
He, therefore, requested the Speaker to summon the Editor of the newspaper and the relevant reporter to the privileges committee in parliament and to take steps to take action against them. He also said he would file a defamation case in this regard. The Minister also spoke of this in parliament today where he said journalists can be handed prison sentences for 2 years for violating parliamentary privileges. He slammed certain journalists and said they were creating hatred against MPs among the people. He said some media organisations bring in Presidents for themselves, conduct business and then bring in another to replace the former. “The Morning” is a newspaper belonging to this group. He said the newspaper claimed his chambers is representing priyamali and that he should therefore step down as minister or representing the case. “I have no chamber but my juniors practice in many courts,” he said.
Social media users in Sri Lanka were seen questioning if it is not a conflict of interest for the current Minister of Justice, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe’s son Rakitha Rajapaksa to appear for fraudster Thilini Priyamali in courts. Rakitha, an Attorney-at-Law along with a team of other lawyers including Attorney Dasun Nagashena represented Priyamali in court this week.
According to court reporters and many media outlets that reported the court proceedings, Gunaratne had made a remark where he said Wijeyadasa’s team of lawyers have arrived in court to represent Thilini Priyamali.
