Lankan judge complains of phone threats over CJ impeachment

The police said that an investigation was underway on the threats received by the Appeal Court judge through telephone.

President of the Appeals Court Sri Skandarajah in his police complaint has said that his sons had answered phone calls from a person on January 6.

The caller had warned that the judge should not attend court on the following day.

The police spokesman Prishantha Jayakodi said that Bambalapitiya police in the Colombo suburb had begun an investigation.

The calls had originated from a public telephone booth in the city.

Judge Skandarajah and two others yesterday ruled in favour of the Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake in a plaint filed by her.

The woman chief justice had pleaded for a quash order and a writ against the parliamentary panel which found her guilty on impeachment charges.

However the government is determined to go ahead in sacking Bandaranayake on the basis that parliamentary powers are supreme.

The parliamentary committee on December 8, 2012, ruled that Bandaranayake was guilty of three of the 14 charges in the impeachment proceedings against her moved by the ruling UPFA coalition legislators.

The three charges were financial impropriety based on non declaration of assets and conflict of interest in a case involving a failed investment company.

The chief justice denied all the charges against her. On December 6, she stormed out of the impeachment hearing in parliament, saying she will not be given a fair trial.

She also claimed verbal abuse by the government members of the parliamentary committee.