520 A Gazette notification has been issued establishing an 18 member Presidential Task Force to plan and implement the “Clean Sri Lanka” Programme, a key feature in President’s policy statement. They have been tasked with preparing a plan, guide, implement, review the progress, and complete the “Clean Sri Lanka” programme within a given time frame aiming to achieve the objectives of elevating society to a more advanced status through a social, environmental and ethical awakening. Create an organisational structure to facilitate the implementation of this programme from the national level to rural level, obtain the subject knowledge and contribution of scholars, professionals, experts and representatives of institutions relating to the subject areas covered by the “Clean Sri Lanka” Programme, prepare a structure to engage stakeholders such as government and semi government sectors, private sector, research institutions, civil society organisations, non-governmental organisations, international organisations and development practitioners, consultancy and professional organisations,...

303 The Government has not held any discussions nor have entered into any agreements with India regarding the proposed Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) between India and Sri Lanka during President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s recent state visit to India. Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Minister Vijitha Herath said this during the special media conference held yesterday (20) at the Department of Government Information to create awareness and to provide insights into President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s recent state visit to India. The Minister said that the relationship between India and Sri Lanka was further strengthened as a result of this state visit to India by the President and the Sri Lankan delegation, as they were well received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian President Droupadi Murmu and other Indian authorities, which is a significant victory for the country and will further benefit Sri Lanka and its people in many...

146 Fitch Ratings said it was upgrading Sri Lanka’s foreign currency rating out of restricted default (RD) status, to CCC+ after 98 percent of bondholders accepted an offer to restructure defaulted bonds with new securities issued on December 20. “The upgrade of the Long-Term Foreign-Currency IDR (issuer default rating) reflects Fitch’s assessment that Sri Lanka has normalised relations with a majority of creditors, after the announcement of final results of the invitation to exchange the outstanding stock of international sovereign bonds…” the rating agency said. “One bond series with non-aggregated collective action clauses did not meet the required 75 percent level. “Without this bond series, the acceptance results imply a restructuring of 96% of total commercial external debt.” The series that did not meet the threshold was a 2022 bond where Hamilton Reserve, a holdout investors hold about 25 percent of the outstanding. The investor went to court using older...

320 The Criminal Investigations Department (CID), conducting investigations into allegations of questions being leaked in the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination, yesterday submitted a detailed report regarding the ongoing investigations to the Supreme Court. During Wednesday’s (18) hearing, the Supreme Court ordered the CID to submit a report on the progress of the investigations. The Supreme Court has already concluded the hearing and reserved its judgement for December 31 on four Fundamental Rights petitions seeking the cancellation of the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination. Supreme Court three-judge-Bench comprising Justices Yasantha Kodagoda, Kumudini Wickremasinghe and Arjuna Obeyesekere, concluded the hearing of four Fundamental Rights petitions filed by several students and their parents. Our Court Correspondent Source link

429 The Attorney General has informed the Supreme Court that investigations have been launched to locate Jude Shramantha Jayamaha who was sentenced to death in connection with the Royal Park murder case. In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court recently ruled that former President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to grant a Presidential pardon to Royal Park murder convict Don Shramantha Jude Anthony Jayamaha was arbitrary and invalid in law. The Court further directed the Attorney General and all relevant authorities to take the necessary steps to arrange Jayamaha’s extradition, as he is considered a convict on death row. When the Fundamental Rights petition which was filed challenging former President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to grant Presidential Pardon to Royal Park murder convict was called before Supreme Court three-judge-bench comprising Justices Preethi Padman Surasena, Shiran Goonaratne and Proyantha Fernando, State Counsel appeared on behalf of the Attorney General informed Court that the investigations...