{"id":45303,"date":"2015-07-05T15:34:41","date_gmt":"2015-07-05T22:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=45303"},"modified":"2015-07-05T15:34:41","modified_gmt":"2015-07-05T22:34:41","slug":"how-will-ranil-defend-his-gestapo-against-mounting-legal-challenges-appeals-court-to-hear-three-writ-applications-against-the-fcid-on-july-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/07\/05\/how-will-ranil-defend-his-gestapo-against-mounting-legal-challenges-appeals-court-to-hear-three-writ-applications-against-the-fcid-on-july-7\/","title":{"rendered":"How will Ranil defend his \u201cGestapo\u201d against mounting legal challenges? Appeals Court to hear three writ applications against the FCID on July 7\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong>By Hassina Leelarathna<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

How will Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe defend the creation of the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID), dubbed a Gestapo,\u201d responsible for the sweeping arrests of a number of politicians of the Rajapaksa regime for alleged financial crimes?<\/p>\n

We will find out next Tuesday, July 7,\u201d said Attorney-at-Law Dharshan Weerasekera who last week filed a writ application on behalf of petitioner Athula Parathapa Kumarapperuma seeking the closure of the controversial police unit on the grounds that it contravenes the Constitution, the Criminal Procedure Code, the Penal Code, and the Police Ordinance.<\/p>\n

Mr. Weerasekera said\u00a0 Prime Minister Wickremasinghe is among six respondents named in \u00a0Kumarapperuma\u2019s application, the third such case seeking the quashing of Gazette No. 1901\/20 \u2013 2015 under which the FCID was created.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister is made a respondent because he is specifically mentioned as the person under whose patronage a Sub Committee, the entity that submits complaints to the FCID, is to function.\u00a0 We will know July 7 their arguments in defense of the FCID,\u201d said Weerasekera adding that his application will be taken up along with two other cases that challenge the legality of the FCID.<\/p>\n

The other respondents named are Inspector General of Police (IGP) N. K. Illangakoon, Minister of Public Order John Amaratunge, Secretary to the President P.B. Abeykoon, Secretary to the Cabinet Sumith Abeysinghe, and the Attorney General.<\/p>\n

Mr. Weerasekera, explaining the basis for the application in an email to this writer, said that since the IGP invokes Article 55 of the Police Ordinance in order to establish the FCID \u00a0the question is whether Article 55 gives \u00a0the IGP power to invent offenses for which citizens can be investigated and punished, and also to circumvent the Criminal Procedure Code when pursuing such investigations.<\/p>\n

Further, as stated in the writ application, a close look at Article 55 shows that it is only intended to give the IGP certain powers to facilitate the administration of the police force, such as transfers, place of residence of officers, as well as to prevent neglect and abuse within the force, he explained.<\/p>\n

There is absolutely no power or authority given to invent offenses or investigative procedures that are to apply to members of the public.<\/p>\n

The IGP has clearly exceeded his powers under Article 55 of the Police ordinance, that is, \u00a0he has acted ultra vires of his powers, and his act can be quashed by way of a writ of certiorari,\u201d\u00a0 Attorney Weerasekera said.<\/p>\n

The “crimes” to be investigated by the FCID are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Grievous financial crimes, Corruption and massive unauthorized projects<\/li>\n
  • Crimes against public funds and property<\/li>\n
  • Grievous crimes against national security, public finance, health and environment<\/li>\n
  • Unlawful enrichment and misuse of official powers<\/li>\n
  • Money laundering funding of terrorists and illegal transactions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Petitioner Kumarapperuma states that the phrases \u00a0grievous financial crimes\u201d and massive unauthorized projects\u201d are intrinsically ambiguous, because the terms grievous\u201d and massive\u201d are not defined, and this allows the FCID and the Cabinet Sub Committee, the receiving body for such complaints, untrammeled discretion to decide which acts are to be investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The writ application also strikes at the FCID\u2019s alarming violation of established legal procedures (Section 109(1) \u2013 (5) of the Criminal Procedure Code) by empowering ruling politicians, viz., the Prime Minister and his Cabinet Sub Committee, to receive complaints and transmit them directly to investigating officers.\u00a0 This bypasses the law that requires that complaints be first being lodged at a police station and that, prior to making an arrest, a police investigation be conducted to determine if a crime has been committed.<\/p>\n

    \u2026the creation, by Gazette 1901\/20 \u2013 2015, of a police unit with powers to investigate, including arrest, citizens by circumventing the basic protections (in regard to investigation and arrest) allowed citizens under the Constitution, the Criminal Procedure Code and the Penal Code, is a blatant abuse of power, and should be quashed by a Writ of Certiorari,\u201d the Petitioner states.<\/p>\n

    By creating the FCID, the\u00a0 First Respondent has created a division within the Police Department with the power to inconvenience and disrupt the lives of citizens, including arresting them, for acts which are not accepted as wrongful acts under the law, thereby circumventing the protection accorded citizens by relevant provisions of the Constitution, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Penal Code.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Mr. Weerasekera said petitioner Mr. Kumarapperuma is an ordinary citizen and is not someone being actively investigated or summoned by the FCID.<\/p>\n

    “He feels that the FCID sets a very dangerous precedent and wants to challenge it.\u00a0 Since the FCID can be used to arrest any citizen, it is a threat to all citizens, and any such citizen can go before court and ask for a writ to stop the mechanism,” he added.<\/p>\n

    On July 7, the Appeals Court will also take up the writ application filed in May by Ven. Elle Gunawanse and Prof. Carlo Fonseka seeking the revocation of the \u00a0Gazette Order \u00a01901\/20 \u2013 2015.<\/p>\n

    In addition to the writ applications filed in the Appeals Court, the FCID\u2019s legality has been challenged via fundamental rights applications filed in the Supreme Court by several leading politicians of the Rajapaksa government, notably former Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa and former ministers Basil Rajapaksa and Johnston Fernando.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0By Hassina Leelarathna How will Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe defend the creation of the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID), dubbed a Gestapo,\u201d responsible for the sweeping arrests of a number of politicians of the Rajapaksa regime for alleged financial crimes? We will find out next Tuesday, July 7,\u201d said Attorney-at-Law Dharshan Weerasekera who last week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}