Colombo, Jan 10: Sixty-five of the 102 cases withdrawn between 2019 and 2024 have been refiled and all such stalled actions against former regime members for wrong doings would be revived, Sri Lanka’s parliament was told on Friday.“We will not spare anyone, like in the case of the former president Ranil Wickremesinghe. We follow a system to do them correctly,” Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya told parliament.
“Between 2019-24, as many as 102 cases were withdrawn citing technical and other grounds. Under the present government, 65 of them have been refiled, three are under review while 34 of them have been dropped,” she said.
All stalled cases against members of the previous governments for wrong doings would be revived, she added.
The prime minister was answering a question by the opposition claiming that former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s case filed for bribery and corruption has not been revived.
The opposition said Rajapaksa’s trial at bar was stopped in 2019 citing presidential immunity when he became the president.
Wickremesinghe was arrested on August 22 last year for allegedly misusing the state funds during his tenure as head of state to attend a university convocation for his wife, a private matter.
While he became the first head of state in Sri Lanka to be arrested, two former parliamentarians were arrested days later.
The Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption has filed action against many former government members since assuming power in 2024.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake rode to power in 2024 after campaigning on the anti-corruption plank.