Monday Jan 13, 2025
Monday Jan 13, 2025
Thursday, 24 November 2016 00:25 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Cabinet yesterday approved two proposals made by Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe to amend the Civil Procedure Code and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act No. 25 of 2002. The Civil Procedure Code amendments have been proposed to minimise trial delays while the second proposal seeks to address difficulties faced by officials investigating transnational crimes such as money laundering and bribery.
The Amendment Bill drafted by the Legal Draftsman and cleared by the Attorney General will be presented in Parliament after the gazette notification is published. The Minister told Daily FT that a new mediation process would be introduced through the amendments.
“The process will try to explore the possibility of reaching a settlement through discussions. The parties and the lawyers in any dispute will have to go through a pre-trial mediation process,” he said.
“The process will be compulsory for all civil cases,” added Rajapaksa, highlighting that the process would help reduce the number of cases coming to court.
Further, the Minister said the bill would also introduce amendments that had been introduced to “simplify and cut short the proceedings in court cases”.
“The bill will be presented in one or two weeks’ time,” Rajapakshe told Daily FT.
The Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters provides for international mutual assistance in combating transnational crimes. The proposal by the Minister seeks to amend the above act recognising the recent developments in transnational crimes such as money laundering and bribery as stipulated by the 16th Article of the United Nations Convention on Bribery and Corruption, crimes related to computers and data.
“This will widen the scope of investigations as there are some crimes committed in different jurisdictions at times pertaining to contracts and public transactions. This will assist in conducting in-depth investigations across the territories,” Rajapakshe said. (CD)
Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said the four subject ministers in charge of different religions have formed a committee to devise a mechanism to resolve religious tensions among Sri Lankan communities.
The committee is to devise a mechanism to amicably solve all disputes and misunderstandings between different religious groups, acceptable to all groups.
“Four ministers of the four religions got together to form a committee. We are sitting in the coming days to devise a mechanism. Issues have to be solved through dialogue and understanding without having unnecessary agitations and protests,” the Minister said.
He said representatives from all religions would have to reach a consensus on the mechanism for dispute resolution before it was implemented.
The Minister met representatives from both the Buddhist and Muslim communities this week, after tensions between the two communities escalated over the weekend, where the Bodu Bala Sena led a demonstration in Kandy inciting violence against different religious groups.
