The Hon. Ajith P. Perera

¶ 01 That is how the Minister of Justice is—when there is a serious matter he should answer here. I table documents, Mr. Presiding Member. The Minister of Justice does not even know that in such a serious incident, an investigative board should be appointed. He should be here to answer.

¶ 02 One thing is clear. For the future of this country, and to protect the people’s money, we must exercise the Parliament’s power over public finance to ensure justice and fairness for all.

¶ 03 In such a grave situation, an inexperienced person—though very learned and a senior in the planning service—had no experience in this particular duty. The Secretary named Aponsu, who worked in the Presidential Secretariat and was appointed Secretary of the Power Ministry after the coal fraud forced the previous Secretary to resign—now people talk of “Aponsu-ization,” that he makes all appointments and manipulates administrative postings, pushing aside administrative officers in favour of planning officers, arranging lists at Pelawatta, etc. It was this same Aponsu who was appointed Secretary after the power sector fraud. He is the one who put this man into difficulty—giving him a duty for which he had no prior experience. He is a good man, a respected scholar from my own university, a longtime JVP full-timer who worked honestly in politics. When his party joined Government and asked him to take responsibility, he accepted it. It is not we who interdicted him; if they imposed responsibilities, interdicted him and subjected him to mental pressure, it is they who did so.

¶ 04 Next: we asked that a special panel be appointed to determine whether this death was a suicide or a murder. Recall in the Shaffter case, the special panel included not only JMOs but top professors and senior experts from multiple fields. If you only appoint JMOs from here and there, you will not get justice.

¶ 05 It was said here that the post-mortem showed suicide. If so, the best is to table that report in this debate. Since it is not available, you cannot. We know there can be various possibilities.

¶ 06 Some young MPs here do not know history. In the JVP’s later insurrection, the first killing was that of Daya Pathirana. I appeared in the Panadura High Court for the second accused of the JVP suspected in that murder. I do not know if some Members were even born then—or were just schoolchildren. We know the JVP’s history—how they killed, conspired, betrayed comrades for political ends, the “gunny-bag” killings—we know who those “gunny-baggers” were.

¶ 07 Mr. Presiding Member, did the President, the Prime Minister, or the Leader of the House attend the funeral of this gentleman who worked from his university days through the union, and then for his party after taking office? Did any top NPP leader—at least the General Secretary or the doctor—attend? No. They abandon their comrade when he falls into trouble. They do not care for their own.

¶ 08 In this country, if a public servant thinks “this is our Government; the JVP/NPP Government; we should take on responsibility and work,” and then falls into trouble, none of the front-line Ministers stand up for them. They did not even attend the funeral; did not express condolences; no one went to say he was a good, honest man. That is the reality. You can clap here in Parliament, but when a partisan comrade dies under distress—whether by suicide or murder—did any of your Ministers go to the funeral to give comfort to the family? If anyone went, raise your hand.