Solicitor General Priyasath Dep was appointed acting Attorney General by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and sworn in before Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva on Thursday, consequent to the retirement of former Attorney General C.R. de Silva P.C.
Priyasath Dep was enrolled as an Attorney-at-Law in October 1976. He joined the Attorney- General's Department as a State Counsel in January 1978 and promoted to the post of Senior State Counsel in February 1989. He was appointed a Deputy Solicitor General in February 1996 and an Additional Solicitor General in October 1999. Mr. Dep was appointed a President's Counsel in April 2000. He was appointed as Solicitor General on April 7, 2007.
As a State Counsel Mr. Dep was attached to the Criminal Division from 1978 to 1985.
He was promoted to the post of Senior State Counsel in February 1989. From 1990 to 1997 he appeared for the State and Public Corporations in civil cases in the District Courts. He also appeared in the Court of Appeal in Writ Applications and in District Court (Final) Appeals.
In 1997 he reverted to the Criminal Division and among other duties he was engaged in supervising the work of the legal officers of the criminal division. In 2002 he led the prosecution in the Sevwandi murder case before a Trial-At-Bar. In the same case he successfully argued the appeal before the Supreme Court. In 2004 he was nominated to argue the appeal in Sujith Prasanna Perera (Superintendent of Customs) murder case and successfully argued the appeal in the Supreme Court.
Mr. Dep had his primary and secondary education at St. Joseph's College, Colombo. |
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