Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa cannot recall the circumstances under which a photograph of him with Azad Maulana was taken, President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva told the Court of Appeal during proceedings on Tuesday.
The submission was made during the hearing of Rajapaksa’s writ petition seeking an order preventing his arrest.
De Silva argued that politicians meet numerous people on a regular basis and that it was natural for his client not to remember a particular photograph taken with an individual.
While not completely denying that Rajapaksa met Maulana during a discussion held at his residence in 2017, the counsel maintained that any conversation that may have taken place was no more than an ordinary exchange typical of meetings involving politicians.
He also did not dispute the existence of the meeting or the photograph but strongly rejected the credibility of the statements made by Azad Maulana to Channel 4, as well as the contents of his affidavit. De Silva referred to several statements previously made by Maulana regarding Sri Lanka, the judiciary, lawyers and a number of high-profile political assassinations, questioning why such a person should be considered a credible witness.
The President’s Counsel further argued that it was “shameful” for the Attorney General’s Department to attempt to arrest a former President based solely on the claims of a person whose credibility was in question, and urged the court to carefully reassess Maulana’s testimony.
He also noted that reports by several committees comprising retired judges, sitting judges and Members of Parliament had not produced evidence implicating Rajapaksa, yet authorities were seeking to arrest him based on the statement of a single individual.
Following the submissions, the Attorney General’s Department informed the court that it required more time to respond. The Court of Appeal fixed July 6 and July 9 for the continuation of the hearing.
