Justice Minister, President’s Counsel Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe yesterday (14) said that just over Rs. 36 million (Mn) out of the total amount of Rs. 311 million due to be paid in compensation to the victims of the Easter Sunday bombings by the respondents of the fundamental rights (FR) petitions filed over the 2019 carnage as per the orders of the Supreme Court (SC), has been received by the Office for Reparations.
Speaking during yesterday’s Parliamentary session, he mentioned that former President and Defence Minister and incumbent Opposition Parliamentarian Maithripala Sirisena has deposited Rs. 15 million out of the Rs. 100 million that he was ordered to pay. Meanwhile, the other respondents of the petitions, filed over the failure to take action to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks despite receiving sufficient intelligence information, have deposited the following sums to the Office: the former Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara – Rs. 1.725 million, the former Chief of the State Intelligence Service, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Nilantha Jayawardena – Rs. 4.1 million, and the former Defence Ministry Secretary Hemasiri Fernando – Rs. 5 million. Notably, the former Chief of National Intelligence, retired DIG Sisira Mendis has fulfilled the compensation payment of Rs. 10 million that he was ordered to pay, while the State and Government has also completed the payment of Rs. 1 million.
Furthermore, Dr. Rajapakshe highlighted that the Office has prepared a procedure to make the relevant payments, and submitted it to the Court, adding however that the compensation can be paid to the victims once the full payments are received by the Office.
The SC ordered Jayasundara and Jayawardena each to pay Rs. 75 million, while Fernando was ordered to pay Rs. 50 million from their personal money.
The order was issued on 12 January 2023, by a seven-Judge SC bench, delivering its decision with regard to the 12 petitions filed by various parties stating that their FR were violated by the negligence and failure to prevent the terrorist attacks on 21 April 2019.