{"id":60212,"date":"2016-10-28T16:07:50","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T23:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=60212"},"modified":"2016-10-28T16:07:50","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T23:07:50","slug":"handunetti-prevented-from-revealing-harassment-at-cope-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/10\/28\/handunetti-prevented-from-revealing-harassment-at-cope-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"Handunetti prevented from revealing harassment at COPE meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Saman Indrajith\u00a0Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

COPE Chairman Sunil Handunnetti was not permitted to tell the House of harassments and intimidation he had undergone at the COPE sessions while investigating the Treasury bond scam.<\/p>\n

After tabling the COPE report, MP Handunetti tried to narrate what he had been subjected to by UNP MPs. He had already promised on a previous date that he would tell the House of his experiences. “These recommendations are important. They came from various parties. There was difference of opinion with regard to the recommendations. I have been accused of\u2026 (UNP Members shout at Handunnetti)<\/p>\n

Leader of the House Minister Lakshamn Kiriella: This is not a debate. Those who clap for COPE chairman have forgotten how it had been done during the Mahinda Rajapaksa government. Thirty COPE reports were relegated to the dustbin.<\/p>\n

Handunnetti: Please let me finish. I request from the Deputy Speaker not to let me undergo the difficulty I suffered at the COPE meeting in this House, too.<\/p>\n

Deputy Speaker: You presented the report as COPE Chairman. But you cannot be permitted to discuss what happened at committee meetings.<\/p>\n

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake: What you say is right. It is not permissible to make public what transpired there at committee meetings. It is against the tradition. But this is a special case. Newspapers reported that COPE chairman had walked out of a meeting. Some interpreted it as a part of conspiracy. According to some that action was a betrayal.<\/p>\n

Some said it was a sell out by COPE chairman. Everybody needs to know what actually happened. The chairman should be given opportunity to explain.<\/p>\n

Minister Rauff Hakim: I am also a member of the COPE. I have chaired committees including the Public Accounts Committee. We too have presented committee reports in this House. MP Handunetti could present his report but it is against traditions for him to reveal things that were discussed and what happened. There are ethics and traditions we have agreed upon. Westminster system has given us many traditions. We have to uphold them. The COPE chairman has acted responsibly. When an MP becomes a chairman of a committee he should leave aside his party politics. None of us mixed our politics with traditions. His views could be expunged from the Hansard. Nothing that would amount to harming dignity of the House should be permitted.<\/p>\n

Thereafter the Chair instructed COPE chairman to wind up his speech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Saman Indrajith\u00a0Courtesy The Island COPE Chairman Sunil Handunnetti was not permitted to tell the House of harassments and intimidation he had undergone at the COPE sessions while investigating the Treasury bond scam. After tabling the COPE report, MP Handunetti tried to narrate what he had been subjected to by UNP MPs. He had already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-106"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60212","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=60212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60212\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}