Sri Lanka, Oct. 7 -- Colombo, October 07 (Daily Mirror)- Concerns over the legality of recent appointments to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) were raised in Parliament today, with an opposition MP accusing certain members of the Constitutional Council of manipulating facts to influence the selection process.

Opposition MP Dayasiri Jayasekara, speaking in the House, alleged that Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne and Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake had misled civil society member of the Constitutional Council, Dinesha Samararatne, to secure her vote for Ranga Dissanayake, who was appointed as Director General of CIABOC.

"Ms. Samararatne has formally protested the misleading information through an affidavit and an email addressed to the Constitutional Council," MP Jayasekara said.

According to Jayasekara, the vote had been split among members of the Council. Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, MP Ajith P. Perera, Dr. Pratap Ramanujan and Dr. Dilukshi Wijesundara had voted in favour of Metsiri Madhawa Tennakoon. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, Bimal Rathnayake, MPs Aboobucker Athambawa and Sivagnanam voted in favour of Ranga Dissanayake.

Jayasekara claimed that Ms. Samararatne had been misled into casting her vote for Dissanayake based on assurances from Mr. Rathnayake, who had reportedly told her that two other CIABOC nominees-former Governors Wasantha Wimalasiri Ginadasa and Champa Janaki Rajaratne-were selected before assuming political office and were therefore not political appointees. She was also reportedly convinced that awarding marks out of 30 during the selection process was a fair method.

"These appointments amount to a violation of parliamentary privilege, as the entire legislature is held accountable for what appears to be an unlawful process," Jayasekara asserted.

Responding briefly, Speaker Wickramaratne said he would issue an official statement on the matter in the House at a later date.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.