News
Committee investigating Deshabandu to submit report this week
View(s):By Chandani Kirinde
The three-member Committee of Inquiry headed by Supreme Court judge Justice P. P. Surasena appointed to investigate allegations of misconduct and abuse of power against Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon will hand over its report to Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne in the next few days.
No date has been fixed for the handover, but it will happen within the upcoming week, a source with knowledge of the committee’s work said.
The other members of the committee are Chairman of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) Justice W. M. N. P. Iddawala and Chairman, National Police Commission Lalith Ekanayake.
Once the committee submits its report under the provisions of the Removal of Officers (Procedure) Act, the Speaker is required, where a finding of guilt has been arrived at, to place such finding in the form of a resolution in the Order Paper of Parliament for the removal of the holder of such office in respect of whom the inquiry was held.
Once the resolution is debated in accordance with the Standing Orders of Parliament and passed by a majority of MPs voting in favor of such resolution, the holder of office to whom such resolution relates is required to be forthwith removed from office by the President.
A resolution to appoint the committee for the removal of Mr Tennakoon from his position as IGP due to alleged misconduct and abuse of power was passed in Parliament on April 8.
The resolution provided for the appointment of the committee in terms of Section 5 of the Removal of Officers (Procedure) Act, No. 5 of 2002, following which the three-member committee was appointed by the Speaker with the concurrence of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
The resolution handed over to the Speaker to appoint the committee was signed by 115 NPP MPs and was passed unanimously by the House on April 8.
Mr Tennakoon was served a charge sheet containing 22 charges, and he appeared before the committee on May 18. The 22 charges he faces include the shooting near the W15 Hotel in Weligama on December 31, 2023, and the death of an officer from the Colombo Crime Division in the shootout there, as well as an assault at the aragalaya protest site at Galle Face Green on May 9, 2022. He also faces a charge of evading summons to appear before court in relation to the Weligama shooting incident.
Mr Tennakoon faces charges of acts of misconduct and/or acts of gross abuse of power by which he has brought the office of the Inspector General of Police of the country and the Police Department to disrepute, and thereby committed an act unbecoming of the IGP which amounts to an act of misconduct in terms of Section 3(d) of the Removal of Officers (Procedure) Act, No. 5 of 2002 thus making him unsuitable to hold office as the IGP.
Mr Tennakoon denies any wrongdoing.
The Removal of Officers (Procedure) Act, No. 5 of 2002 lays out the procedure for the removal of holders of the Office of the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police. The grounds of removal of persons holding such office include being unfit to continue in office by reason of ill health or physical or mental infirmity, being convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude, treason or bribery; being found guilty of misconduct or corruption; being found guilty of gross abuse of power of office; being found guilty of gross neglect of duty; being found guilty of gross partiality in office, or ceasing to be a citizen of Sri Lanka.
This is the first time the law enacted in 2022 is being used for the removal of a person holding office of either the AG or IGP.
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