report in Daily Mirror online, Apr 20, 2023
- Serious allegations of bribes paid to a Sri Lankan to bury the matter
- Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe instructs police to initiate probe
- CEJ says only 29 days remaining for govt. to take legal action
At a time when the country is depending on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its international partners to bail Sri Lanka out of its worst ever economic crisis, there are serious questions as to why the government has failed to claim massive compensation of US 6.4 billion dollars from the X-Press Pearl Disaster.
The Singapore flagged X-Press Pearl, which caught fire and began sinking off Sri Lanka’s western coast on May 20,2021 was the worst maritime disaster to have struck the country. It has had a significant impact on Sri Lanka’s sensitive coastal environment, local communities and the economy and killed a large number of marine life.
Now almost two years since the tragedy, the government is yet to take legal action against the X-Press Pearl owners to claim a whopping compensation of US 6.4 billion dollars, leading to serious questions as to why the government is delaying or ignoring to claim this amount which would benefit the ailing economy.
The Center for Environmental Justice, said only 29 days remain for the Sri Lankan government to take legal action against the X-Press Pearl Disaster, and delaying filing the case against the disaster will cause the evidence under the sea bed to disappear.
CEJ Chairman and Senior Lawyer Dr Ravindranath Dabare told Daily Mirror that only the Sri Lankan government has the power to file a case against the incident under the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) Act.
The CEJ has filed a Public Welfare Prosecution on behalf of the public, the country, the environment, the fishermen, the tourism industry, and future generations in some hope to claim for compensation following the tragedy.
“According to the court’s decision, we would be able to get the compensation. As a civil organization, we filed the case within 14 days after the disaster. but the government institutions have not taken any decision to file the case,” Dr. Dabare said.
Getting late to file the case will influence the witnesses; certain groups can erase the witnesses and cause the evidence to disappear under the seabed, he said.
Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe has already made a shocking revelation that he had got hold of details regarding the transfer of US $ 250 million to the foreign account of a Sri Lankan as a bribe to obstruct the legal process related to X-Press Pearl disaster, and directed the police to initiate investigations into it. However he has failed to name the Sri Lankan involved and will await further details from the probe.
At the time the X-Press Pearl tragedy occurred, now Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekara was the Minister of Fisheries and now Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry was the Minister of Justice and the government at that time had assured that all action would be taken to claim the required compensation.
Who is the Sri Lankan who was paid $250mn bribe to derail litigation against X-Press Pearl?
Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said he got hold of details regarding the transfer of US $ 250 million to the foreign account of a Sri Lankan as a bribe to obstruct the legal process related to X-Press Pearl disaster, and directed the police to initiate investigations into it.
However the Minister is yet to name the individual involved.
The Singapore-registered X-Press Pearl ship was on fire for two weeks near the Colombo port in May, 2021 causing a disaster to the marine environment of the country.
The X-Press Pearl had been carrying 25 tonnes of nitric acid, along with other chemicals and cosmetics, when it caught fire on May 20, 2021.
The government authorities are now planning for litigation against the company seeking compensation.
Minister Rajapakshe told Daily Mirror that he received details related to the bank transaction involving a US $ 250 million bribe to derail the process, denying compensation to the country.
“Money has been transferred to the foreign bank account of a Sri Lankan national. As the minister, I directed the police to investigate the matter. I gave all the details to the police. The police have already commenced investigations,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said the Attorney General is proceeding with plans for litigation in Singapore.
Sri Lankas lawyers have hired a few foreign legal experts since the case is to be heard under a different direction. https://www.dailymirror.lk/top_story/Why-is-the-govt-not-claiming-a-6-4bn-compensation-for-X-Press-Pearl-tragedy/155-257865
