The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has ruled that the telephone conversation between former Solicitor General Dilrukshi Wickremasinghe and Nissanka Senadhipathi the Avant-Garde Chairman, led to the suspension of the former Solicitor General, has been edited and distorted.
In September 2019, the Public Service Commission interdicted Ms Wickramasinghe sent her on compulsory leave due to this conversation which viral in social media as well as mainstream media. Following an appeal made on AAT it has called three experts reports including a report from the Moratuwa University confirmed that the alleged recording had been substantially edited, doctored and fundamentally distorted.
However, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal has conducted ordered the Public Service Commission to lift the suspension and reinstate in the post of Solicitor General with immediate effect. However, Ms Wickramasinghe was retired last Friday (July 30) without being reinstated, according to the Sunday Times.
Meanwhile, Assistant Government Analyst WGDL Gunathilake Investigating the allegations against Ms Wickremasinghe, has said that the recording had been edited in 10 places.
The verdict stated that the Senadhipathi himself had admitted in a statement at the preliminary inquiry that he had edited the recording of the recording.
According to the investigation, Nissanka Senadhipathi had called Minister Abeywardena’s phone while he was having dinner with former Minister Vajira Abeywardena and the Minister had handed over his phone to Ms Wickremasinghe, telling her that he wanted to speak to Ms Wickremasinghe. It has been established that the Nissanka Senadhipathi had deliberately planned to trap Dilrukshi Wickramasinghe and that the conversation about legal procurement had been recorded and distorted and then posted on social media.
The tribunal noted that Vajira Abeywardena’s statement had not been recorded or his phone had not been checked by experts during the preliminary investigation.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has concluded that the Public Service Commission has implemented Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe’s suspension solely on the basis of distorted audio recordings on social media and television and on the statement of former Attorney General Dappula de Livera.
The Administrative Appeals Tribunal quashed the order issued by the Public Service Commission and ordered that Ms. Wickremasinghe be reinstated and allowed to retire after reaching her retirement age on July 30, 2021, but this has not been done.
