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TISL welcomes SC judgment in case against Keheliya Rambukwella and former health officials
View(s):Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) has welcomed Friday’s Supreme Court’s judgment which found that former Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and several former health officials had violated the fundamental rights of the public by purchasing medical supplies from an unregistered Indian company through an unsolicited proposal in 2022, bypassing established legal and regulatory safeguards.
Aside from Minister Rambukwella, the former Secretary to the Ministry of Health, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), and the former Director of the Medical Supplies Division were also found to have violated the fundamental rights of the public through their actions.
The SC ordered former Minister Rambukwella to personally pay Rs. 75 million to the State, while the other responsible respondents were ordered to pay Rs. 50 million each. The court also ordered the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) to take steps as per the Anti-Corruption Act No. 09 of 2023 in relation to the conduct in question.
The judgment was delivered by a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice P. Padman Surasena, Justice Kumudini Wickremasinghe, and Justice Janak de Silva.
Issuing a statement, TISL, which filed the fundamental rights petition on February 16, 2023, stated that the judgement “builds on the recent precedent set by Sri Lanka’s apex court in upholding accountability and reinforces the principle that public officials are bound to act within the law and always in the interest of the people they are meant to serve.” It added that the Court also “underscored the arbitrary manner in which public power was exercised to the detriment of public funds and citizen welfare and
reaffirmed its duty to hold officials to account where they fail to uphold their obligations to the people.”
Senior Counsel Senany Dayaratne
with Nishadi Wickramasinghe, Lasanthika Hettiarachchi, Janani Abeywickrema, Maheshika Bandara appeared for the petitioners.
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