For years, the failure and lethargy of the National Authority for the Protection of Victims of Crimes and Witnesses established in 2015 appeared to point to the incapacity and unwillingness of the state system to commit to offering real remedy or sanctuary for witnesses in high profile cases.
But shocking revelations by the Chairman of Sri Lanka’s National Authority for the Protection of Witnesses and Victims Suhada Gamlath point to an entirely different problem, and one that will send a chilling message to victims and witnesses, and even law enforcement officials investigating key cases.
In an interview with a newspaper owned and managed by one of the former Defence Secretary’s biggest political backers, Gamlath claimed that the Government had pressured the Attorney General’s Department to pursue cases against Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The allegation is startling, firstly because there is no record of Gamlath having ever reported the interference while serving as the second highest ranked prosecutor at the Attorney General’s Department. Secondly, as the official in charge of the National Authority tasked with offering protection to witnesses and victims (including law enforcement officials), much of the former Solicitor General’s job is supposed to involve protecting witnesses from intimidation and assault in connection with crimes, some of them committed while Gotabaya Rajapaksa held office as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, from 2005-2015.
Former Solicitor General Suhada Gamlath has been Chairman of the Authority since its inception in August 2016. In the three years it has been in operation, legal researchers found that the Authority had granted safety to only six persons. Multiple witnesses in the Welikada prison murders case, the navy abductions case and other emblematic cases have told the Sunday Observer that their pleas to the Witness Protection Authority have gone unanswered. Responses to complaints take months to reach complainants. Typically, witnesses and victims whose lives are at immediate risk have been forced to turn to other state institutions or private parties for remedy.
In the interview, the former Solicitor General also berated CID officers for impounding the passports of suspects arrested in connection with the Avant Garde investigation and admitted to ensuring that Avant Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi’s passport had been returned to him, despite reservations by the CID. Senadhipathi was permitted to travel to Nigeria, a key place of business for Avant Garde, despite the money laundering charges he was facing in Sri Lanka.
Gamlath also directly accused Ministers Rajitha Senaratne and Champika Ranawaka of being “immensely interested” in the progress of the Avant Garde case. In the interview, he opined that he believed the reason for the Government’s interest in the case was commercial, rather than political. “There may have been a need to break this business up and hand it over to someone else. Because this was a business that was raking in tens of millions in profits,” the former Solicitor General said.
It was the second time the profitability of the Avant Garde floating armoury business, accused of illegally leasing weapons belonging to the Sri Lankan state, has been a point of reference in connection with the charges against the company.
The gun-running and illegal lease of weapons case has shot back into the spotlight in recent weeks, even as the Court of Appeal upheld objections by lawyers for former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa against the case filed by the Bribery Commission, on technical grounds. The Court of Appeal judgment was clear that judges did not go into the merits of the case, and left the field open for charges against the same suspects to be instituted properly in any appropriate court. Following the judgment, Rajapaksa and seven others indicted by the Bribery Commission for causing losses to the state to the tune of Rs. 11 billion were discharged. Pouncing on the discharge, media friendly to Rajapaksa sent alerts islandwide, that Rajapaksa, who is now the SLPP presidential hopeful, and the others, had been “acquitted” by the Magistrate’s Court.
Gamlath’s allegations come amid other scandals at the Attorney General’s Department, after one of the main suspects in the Avant Garde floating armoury case leaked audio purporting to feature the voice of current Solicitor General Dilrukshi Dias Wickremasinghe.
The audio revealed the woman allegedly identified as Wickremasinghe expressing regret about the damage to Avant Garde’s business and the decision to prosecute Gotabaya Rajapaksa in connection with the investigation conducted by the Bribery Commission when she served as Director General. Wickremasinghe has since been interdicted by the Public Service Commission while an inquiry into the leaked audio continues.
In his interview, Gamlath accuses Wickremasinghe of caving to political pressure, even though he did not. “Everything she said is true,” he said referring to the leaked audio. “The difference was that she caved to the pressure, and I refused to,” he told the Sinhala language newspaper. Gamlath also echoed the Joint Opposition mantra that the FCID had been set up improperly by the Yahapalanaya regime.
He called for an investigation into all those who participated in FCID investigations and processes by way of a special presidential commission under a “Government to be appointed in the future”.
Ironically, Gamlath, who emphasises that he raised objections with the Attorney General at the time about being summoned for meetings with Government politicians, was recently seen participating in a SLPP Lawyers fellowship at which Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the keynote speaker.
His decision to participate was slammed by independent legal experts who pointed to the impropriety of his conduct.
“He is chairman of the Victims and Witness Protection Authority. If he takes that position and attends the SLPP candidate’s meet up with lawyers, then his independence and impartiality is thrown into doubt,” a senior lawyer told Sunday Observer. “It gives rise to the question about how he was influenced. He claims to be independent, yet he has gone to a meeting of the SLPP candidate while holding office as chairman of this statutory body,” the lawyer charged.
Speaking to the Sunday Observer, President’s Counsel Upul Jayasuriya said Gamlath should resign immediately as Chair of the Witness Protection Authority. “He cannot remain in this position even for a moment, having attended a political party event for lawyers to felicitate a candidate who is implicated in so many cases involving complainants the Authority must engage,” Jayasuriya explained.
He said the Authority was not just another Corporation, but a statutory body vested with rights, duties and obligations to protect the prosecution and witnesses for the prosecution. “That authority is not about protecting the accused. He goes and stands there in support of a candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is an accused in so many cases. So he must be chased out,” Jayasuriya charged.
Responding to Gamlath’s claims in the interview about the Avant Garde case, Jayasuriya told Sunday Observer that a damning report compiled by Additional Solicitor General Wasantha Nawaratne Bandara into the Avant Garde investigation, with which then head of the Criminal Division of the Attorney General’s Department Jayantha Jayasuriya and senior prosecutors Kapila Waidyaratne and Yasantha Kodagoda had concurred, had been dismissed by Gamlath who was Solicitor General at the time. “He sent a report to AG Yuwanjan Wijetillake, who was civil prosecutor, like Gamlath himself. In his opinion, Gamlath opposed the report compiled by Bandara, and said Gotabaya Rajapaksa should not be prosecuted for illegal possession of firearms,” Jayasuriya told Sunday Observer. “Four senior criminal division prosecutors concurred with the report produced by Bandara, including the head of the division himself,” he added.
It was shocking, Jayasuriya added, that under the current Administration, Gamalath was continuing to hold high office.
Investigations over several years by the Sunday Observer revealed that the Authority is barely functional, with no web presence other than a page on the Justice Ministry website. A brief visit to the Authority located in Battaramulla in February 2019 revealed that the office had no reception or inquiries desk, and until later this year, the Authority did not even have a hotline. Sunday Observer also learns that senior officials at the Authority have actively blocked efforts to amend the Witness Protection Act passed in 2015 which has serious loopholes and lapses that undermine the capacity of the Authority to offer real protections to persons under threat. Earlier this year, the Authority commenced a publicity campaign to raise awareness about help being available. In 2018, the total budget allocation for the Authority, including funding from the UNDP amounted to Rs. 69 million. Its allocation was under-utilised by nearly Rs. 10 million by the end of that year, according to fiscal reports compiled by the Ministry of Justice and Prison Reform.
For years, the inefficiency of the Authority has been attributed to lethargy and incapacity, under-funding and lack of training. The Chairman’s recent revelations may point to another reason altogether.