{"id":59168,"date":"2018-05-09T16:57:40","date_gmt":"2018-05-09T21:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=59168"},"modified":"2018-05-09T17:45:52","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T22:45:52","slug":"parliament-passes-law-119-to-52-to-set-up-special-courts-to-fast-track-cases-concerning-alleged-corruption-during-rajapaksa-regime-with-mahinda-loyalist-mps-voting-against","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=59168","title":{"rendered":"Parliament Passes Law with 119 – 52 Votes to Set Up Special Courts To Fast Track Cases Concerning Alleged Corruption During Rajapaksa Regime With Mahinda Loyalist MP’s Voting Against."},"content":{"rendered":"

Sri Lanka’s parliament Wednesday voted to set up special courts to try multi-billion dollar graft cases under former president Mahinda Rajapakse.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The move aims to accelerate several high-profile cases following criticism over the slow pace of justice since President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in 2015 promising to stamp out corruption.<\/p>\n

Parliament voted 119-52 to create high courts to take up white collar crimes and reduce the backlog of cases.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“The new courts will reduce pressure on the criminal justice system and help speed up hearings,” Justice Minister Thalatha Atukorale said.<\/p>\n

The choice of which cases will be taken up by the new courts will be made by the chief justice to ensure that no political pressure is involved, she added.<\/p>\n

Sirisena came to power three years ago pledging to punish members of the former administration accused of stealing vast sums during Rajapakse’s decade in power.<\/p>\n

Rajapakse loyalists in the 225-member parliament voted against the bill.<\/p>\n

Sirisena has said up to half of all public procurement contracts under the Rajapakse administration were corrupt, and his government has renegotiated several multi-billion dollar projects.<\/p>\n

Rajapakse’s chief aide Lalith Weeratunga has already been convicted of misappropriating $4 million and sentenced to three years in prison.<\/p>\n

Two of the former president’s three sons have been charged with money-laundering and other relatives face corruption allegations.<\/p>\n

Rajapakse, who is not under investigation, denies any wrongdoing and accuses his successor of a witch hunt.
\n
\nCourtesy:ECONOMY NEXT<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sri Lanka’s parliament Wednesday voted to set up special courts to try multi-billion dollar graft cases under former president Mahinda Rajapakse. The move aims to accelerate several high-profile cases following criticism over the slow pace of justice since President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in 2015 promising to stamp out corruption. Parliament voted 119-52 to …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Parliament Passes Law with 119 – 52 Votes to Set Up Special Courts To Fast Track Cases Concerning Alleged Corruption During Rajapaksa Regime With Mahinda Loyalist MP’s Voting Against.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59168"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59168"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59171,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59168\/revisions\/59171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}