Former President of the BAR Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) Saliya Peiris has refuted allegations by President Ranil Wickremesinghe claiming that the former had allegedly had ambitions to be Prime Minister prior to the May 09 political crisis last year.
Addressing the Parliament and responding to claims by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Sumanthiran, the President said an agreement had been reached between then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, several opposition political parties and the BASL to appoint an individual outside the political arena as the Prime Minister.
He further claimed that it was also agreed to enable the individual to enter Parliament by offering a National List seat.
The President further claimed that the BASL at the time was under the impression that then BASL President Saliya Peiris would be appointed as the Prime Minister, but the incidents at the Galle Face Green on May 09, 2022, had changed the outcome.
Issuing a statement, former BASL President Saliya Peiris said: “Ranil Wickremesinghe has in the course of speaking in Parliament today (Nov 24) mentioned my name and falsely claimed that I had ambitions to be Prime Minister prior to 9th May 2022.”
Saliya Peiris further said that unfortunately, Wickremesinghe utters these lies under cover of immunity in Parliament where he cannot be replied to.
“The BASL proposals made in May 2022 were never about individuals. They were made after careful thought by its Executive Committee and approved by the Bar Council. The legal community made these proposals with the intention of proposing a solution for Sri Lanka’s political and governance crisis with the interests of Sri Lanka and its people in mind.
“I am compelled to say that, unlike politicians of his ilk, I have never placed personal ambitions above the needs of the country. I have never sacrificed my principles for personal gain or for the greed of office,” Saliya Peiris added. (NewsWire)
