Supreme Court suspends criminal proceedings in X-Press Pearl case

The Supreme Court yesterday issued an interim order stating further proceedings relating to the indictment filed before the Colombo High Court against eight accused, including the Captain of the fire-ravaged container ship MV X-Press Pearl.

The Supreme Court three-judge-bench comprising Justices A.H.M.D. Nawaz, Kumuduni Wickramasinghe and Priyantha Fernando issued this interim order pursuant to a special leave to appeal application filed by the accused-petitioners challenging the Court of Appeal decision to dismiss their revision applications. This interim order will be effective till 12 February next year.

The Attorney General filed the indictment against eight accused before the Colombo High Court, charging them on eight counts in terms of Section 26(a) of the Marine Pollution Prevention Act No. 35 of 2008 for the destruction caused to the coastal areas of the country within the territorial waters of Sri Lanka.

The charge against the Petitioners is that at the time an alleged offence under Section 26(a) of the Marine Environmental Protection Authority (MEPA) Act was purportedly committed by Sea Consortium Lanka Ltd., and therefore the petitioners are liable for the commission of an offence under Section 26 (a) read with Section 58 of the MEPA Act.

The Petitioners stated that the Court of Appeal erred in law in failing to appreciate that the indictment filed under the hand of the Attorney-General is patently beyond the powers to institute legal proceedings is vested with the MEPA.

Charges have been filed against Master of the ship Tyutkalo Vitalyon, Sea Consortium Lanka Ltd., its Directors and the General Manager for the destruction caused to the coastal areas of the country within the territorial waters of Sri Lanka.

President’s Counsel Sanjeeva Jayawardana PC with Dilumi de Alwis and Rukshan Senadheera appeared for the 6th, 7th and 8th accused-petitioners while President’s Counsel Romesh De Silva appeared for the 3rd accused-petitioner.