Hon. Nishantha Jayaweera
2026-02-05
Hon. Nishantha Jayaweera acknowledged the first supplementary question as properly presented while declining to elaborate on the second. He stated that licences in question were irregularly issued by the previous Government to associates during an election period, and noted that a related case is currently before the courts. On that basis, he invoked sub judice convention to justify withholding further procedural details, clarifying that the legal concern centres on the timing and circumstances of the licence issuance rather than their inherent legality.
We will consider what you properly presented as your first supplementary.
Regarding the second: It has been revealed that during the previous Government, at a time when an election had been declared, these licences were issued irregularly to their friends. A related case is pending before court even now. Therefore, it is not appropriate to discuss further details here. However, those licences were issued subject to conditions. The question now arising is not whether the licence is illegal per se, but that they were issued during an election period to their associates. Since a case is sub judice, it is not appropriate to discuss that procedure further here.