Shani Abeysekara files petition challenging PCoI recommendations against him
January 21, 2022 12:43 pm
Former Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), SSP Shani Abeysekara has filed a petition with the Appeals Court seeking a writ order nullifying the recommendations presented against him by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) on incidents of political victimization.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Upali Abeyratne and other members of the said presidential commission, Avant-Garde Security Services and its chairman Nissanka Yapa Senadhipathi, Senior State Counsel Janaka Bandara have been named as the respondents of this petition.
Abeysekara stated that he had received a notice to appear before the PCoI on political victimization on June 16, 2020 based on a complaint lodged by the Avant-Garde chairman.
He pointed out that the PCoI on political victimization has no jurisdiction to investigate the complaint made by the Avant-Garde chairman as lawsuits pertaining to the said complaint were being heard before a trial-at-bar of the Colombo High Court and the Colombo Magistrate’s Court.
Accordingly, he requested the Appeals Court to invalidate the recommendations made by the PCoI on political victimization on November 24, 2020 as they have no legal basis.
