- Wijeyadasa claims legal expert trio consulted by MEPA eventually came round to AG’s view
All three experts from whom the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) had obtained instructions from and who made recommendations regarding filing cases seeking compensation related to the MV X-Press Pearl maritime disaster in the jurisdiction of Sri Lanka had eventually agreed with the Attorney General (AG), President’s Counsel (PC) Sanjay Rajaratnam’s opinion that it would be beneficial for Sri Lanka to file the relevant case in a Singaporean court, said the Minister of Justice, Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe PC.
Several parties including the main Parliamentary Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) recently criticised the AG's Department's decision to file the related case in a Singaporean court.
Commenting on the matter in the Parliament yesterday (25), Dr. Rajapakshe said that there were different views regarding filing cases regarding the incident. “There was a broad discussion regarding the way in which the relevant lawsuit should be filed. One group said that they should be filed in Sri Lanka and the other said that they should be filed in Singapore.” Taking into account such, he said that the MEPA had obtained instructions from a panel of experts including Ronald Perera PC, Chandaka Jayasundara PC, and Attorney Dr. Dan Malika Gunasekara regarding the matter. He said that they had initially said that the lawsuit must be filed in a Sri Lankan court. “When they presented those matters, I invited those experts and the AG for a discussion and asked them to discuss the matter and reach a decision as to what option would be the best. I also attended that meeting. In the end, all three experts who initially said that lawsuits must be filed in Sri Lanka agreed with the AG's opinion that Sri Lanka has an advantage if these lawsuits are filed in Singapore. We are carrying forward this task accordingly,” he explained.
Noting that the decision to file a case in a Singaporean court instead of a Sri Lankan court at a cost of about $ 4.5 million regarding the MV X-Press Pearl maritime disaster raises doubts, the SJB had requested the Criminal Investigations Department on Monday (24) to investigate as to whether there was some kind of conspiracy or deal and bribery or extortion behind the same.
On 20 May 2021, the MV X-Press Pearl caught fire off the coast of Colombo. The vessel was engulfed in flames by 27 May and declared a total loss. It was still afloat, and the fire was thought to be under control by Sri Lankan firefighters by the late hours of 27 May. After burning for 12 days, the vessel sank on 2 June as it was being towed away to deeper waters. The incident was deemed the worst marine ecological disaster in Sri Lankan history for the chemical products that spilled.