The wreck of the X-Press Pearl is regarded as the biggest plastic marine spill in history.
Appoint Presidential Commission on X-Press Pearl Corruption Allegations – Centre for Environmental Justice
The Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) has requested President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to appoint a Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate the conduct of several state institutions and allegations of corruption in relation to the X-Press Pearl disaster.
Dr Ravindranath Dabare, a co-founder of the CEJ, told Sandeshaya by Saroj YouTube channel that there are serious concerns as to whether certain state institutions acted in the interest of Sri Lanka during the disaster.
He said: “Why was there a sense of negligence in decision-making by some institutions? Why were decisions taken that, on the surface, appear to have been detrimental to Sri Lanka? I believe a thorough investigation is necessary into these matters.”
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Dr Dabare also recalled that in April 2023, then Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told Parliament that there was information about a $250 million bribe being paid to a British bank account belonging to a person named Chamara Gunasekara in an attempt to derail legal action by Sri Lanka to claim compensation for the disaster.
He emphasized that the public remains in the dark about the outcome of investigations into those allegations, further underscoring the need for a Presidential Commission to examine all these issues.
Dr Ravindranath Dabare currently also serves as the Chairman of the Environmental Committee of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. (BASL)
Where is the promised investigation?
In October last year, then Cabinet Spokesman Minister Vijitha Herath told Al Jazeera that the new government would launch a special investigation into the X-Press Pearl disaster.
Subsequently, in an interview with the BBC in May this year, Dr Ravindra Kariyawasam, an advisor to the Ministry of Environment, stated that the Minister of Environment would appoint a special committee for this purpose at the beginning of June.
However, to date, the government has not appointed such an investigative committee.
Following the fire and sinking of the X-Press Pearl vessel off Sri Lanka’s coast, it was the CEJ that filed the first Fundamental Rights petition before the Supreme Court. Several other petitions followed. After years of hearings, the Supreme Court is expected to issue its final judgment on these cases later this month.
Dr Ravindranath Dabare raised objections in court to the Attorney General’s Department suggesting a compensation settlement based on an interim expert report that only covered findings up to November 2022. He pointed out that while more than 30 sub sections needed to be investigated as part of their assessment, by November 2022, only about four sub sections had been completed.
MEPA ‘Silent’
“This expert committee clearly stated that the compensation assessment process should, under normal circumstances, take at least ten years, and for some sectors, even up to a hundred years,” said Dr Ravindranath Dabare.
In a previous interview, he stated that the appropriate compensation should be no less than $10 billion.
Sandeshaya understands that under the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration, the Attorney General’s Department has instructed the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) not to extend the expert committee’s mandate beyond the year 2022.
Dr Dabare stated that he had requested the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of MEPA to elaborate to the court about the expert report not being updated.
“I personally requested – for MEPA to better support the court proceedings on compensation assessment. But that support was not given,” he said.
MEPA and its former Chairperson, Attorney-at-Law Darshani Lahandapura, are among the respondents named in Fundamental Rights petitions related to the X-Press Pearl case.
Dr Dabare emphasized that the powers of the Supreme Court and a Presidential Commission of Inquiry fall under two distinct legal frameworks. Therefore, appointing a Special Presidential Commission while court proceedings are ongoing would not create any legal conflict.
