Speaker has second thoughts on releasing Ranjan’s tapes after MPs divided over matter

• Speaker says decision to release 19 tapes based on recommendations of committee named by party leaders
• Tapes in question were edited so no personal information would be made public
• Opposition Leader says decision with Speaker but warns some contents could be detrimental to country
• Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe says tapes have already caused immense damage and could further hurt image of MPs
• JVP says withholding information from MPs will set bad precedent

By Chandani Kirinde

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya yesterday said that he would reconsider a decision he had made to release 19 tapes containing phone recordings made by UNP MP Ranjan Ramanayake as opinion was divided among Members of Parliament whether such information should be made public.

Even though Speaker Jayasuriya announced at the commencement of sittings that he was releasing the edited tapes as recommended by a committee of MPs drawn from an all parties to scrutinise them, there were mixed views expressed in the House over the move. 

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya

UNP MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe strongly objected to the tapes’ release, stating that there was no provision in the Standing Orders of Parliament nor in the Parliamentary (Powers and Privileges) Act to release compact discs of phone recordings and said it was questionable as to what public good the contents of these tapes would serve.

“These tapes that have been leaked in the media have already done a great deal of damage to our society. The obscene language used in them has tarnished the image of all MPs,” Rajapakshe said.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said that while all party leaders agreed to let the Speaker have the final say on the matter, none of them said the tapes should be released.

“The decision is with the Speaker. In some of these tapes, there are conversations where some countries are referred to in derogatory terms, so we have to be careful when making these public,” he stated.

However, JVP MP Anura Dissanayake said that the tapes were tabled in the House by MP Ramanayake and only the Speaker could decide whether to make them available to all MPs or not.

“MPs should have access to all these tapes for their perusal. It would be unwise to censor them,” he said.

JVP MP Bimal Ratnayake also supported the view that censoring the tapes would set a bad precedent. 

“Everyone has an opinion on whether what Ramanayake did was right or wrong but even bigger damage was done to the image of Parliament when the Speaker was attacked with chili powder and this place was turned upside down and there is still no action taken against those culprits,” Ratnayake asserted.He urged the Speaker to ensure that action be initiated against the offenders before the present term of the Parliament concluded.

State Minister Nimal Lanza asked the UNP why no action had been taken against Ramanayake by the party when he had conducted himself in a manner unbecoming of a Parliamentarian.

Meanwhile, UNP MP Ramanayake, who has been in remand custody for the past month after recordings of his phone conversations went public, said his intention was to make the calls and record them in order to catch thieves.

“When we came to power in 2015, the pledge was that the new government would close the airport and stop thieves from fleeing the country but as that did not happened I had to call judges among others to remind them to take action,” Ramanayake said.

The MP said he was in a prison cell located between former SriLankan Airlines CEO Kapila Chandrasena and Sri Lanka’s former Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga.

“I am in jail because I tried to catch thieves, but the others are in jail because they robbed the country,” Ramanayake declared.