• Public petition campaign ongoing to gather signatures for civic rights abolition Presidential CoI 

The main Parliamentary Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) stated that they are currently considering filing a fundamental rights (FR) petition before the Supreme Court (SC) with the aim of obtaining an order to stop granting privileges from public money to politicians and public officials who have been ruled by the SC to be responsible for bankrupting the country economically.

On 14 November, the SC ruled that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa; former Prime Minister, Finance Minister, and incumbent Government Parliamentarian Mahinda Rajapaksa; former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa; and several others were responsible for the country's economic crisis.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, former Parliamentarian Mujibur Rahman of the SJB said that they had already initiated an islandwide programme to collect signatures for a public petition to pressure President and Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to appoint a Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) with complete judicial powers to abolish the civic rights of those who were ruled to be responsible for the economic crisis. 

“We have made three main proposals. They are to abolish the civic rights of these individuals, confiscate their assets, and stop granting privileges to them using public funds. A CoI with full judicial powers is required to do it. It is the President who should submit a proposal to the Cabinet of Ministers and do the needful. However, Wickremesinghe will not do it, and we know that he will not. That is why we have launched this campaign so that the people can know about him,” he said.

When queried by The Daily Morning as to whether the SJB would resort to any legal action in relation to the matter, Rahman said that they are currently discussing the filing of an FR petition before the SC with their attorneys, including President's Counsels. “We are planning to file an FR petition seeking an SC order to stop the Government from granting privileges to these individuals. We are particularly trying to obtain an order against the President`s Secretary as it is he who deals with matters pertaining to granting privileges to politicians.”

The SC recently ruled that the three Rajapaksa brothers, former Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Governors Ajith Nivard Cabraal and Emeritus Prof. W.D. Lakshman, former Finance Ministry and Treasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle, former Presidential Secretary P.B. Jayasundera, and the Monetary Board members of the CBSL were responsible for the economic crisis.