The Hon. M. Nizam Kariapper, PC

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, today we discuss the remuneration and service conditions of the officers and employees of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, appointed under the Anti-Corruption Act. While no one opposes it as policy, there is a serious anomaly.

¶ 02 The CIABOC Director General’s salary scale is made comparable to the President of the Court of Appeal. Under Section 19(1), a person with 15 years’ experience in criminal prosecutions can be appointed as DG for five years, and upon completing 20 years’ service, upon exit, he would be entitled to the salary scale of the President of the Court of Appeal. The issue is not with any individual—this sends a wrong signal to senior Judges of the Court of Appeal and even to senior High Court Judges that, upon re-entry to the judiciary, the DG might be on par with the President of the Court of Appeal—a status comparable to a Supreme Court Justice. One cannot reach that position from the Attorney General’s Department merely by years of service; judicial pathways are different. Please look into this anomaly; seek guidance from the Management Services Department. Thank you.

¶ 03 Next, I must thank Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe. For the first time, a Government Minister stood up and said the current war escalated because America and Mossad together struck Iran. No one else said it. I expected the President to say it when he spoke here on the 3rd, but neither he nor the Foreign Minister mentioned that the war was precipitated by a US–Mossad strike that killed a lawful leader. Tomorrow we have been invited to the President’s Iftar; in protest, I call upon Muslim MPs to boycott it.

¶ 04 I thank Minister Samarasinghe for at least stating how this war unfolded. But Muslim MPs who spoke before me, the Foreign Minister, and Government MPs have not uttered a word condemning America’s war, nor even expressed condolences on the death of Iran’s leader—this looks like tacit support for Mossad.

¶ 05 In this war, when Iran fires a drone costing US$3,000, Israel uses an Iron Dome interceptor costing US$3–4 million to take it down. Either way Israel loses—if the drone lands or if it is intercepted. As Rajinikanth says in a Tamil film, “One blow felt like a hundred”—that is Iran’s effect. Remember, this war has been imposed by Mossad. The American people do not support it; this is being driven by Mossad’s agenda. We now realize that every strike causes pain to everyone in this world. Let us all pray for this war to end.

¶ 06 Thank you.