(UTV|COLOMBO) -After days of deliberations and after the appointment of committees, Speaker of House Karu Jayasuriya today announced in Parliament that he has decided to release edited versions of the phone recordings of Parliamentarian Ranjan Ramanayake, to MPs. Phone recordings of MP Ramanayake have been much talked of following his arrest by the Criminal Investigations Department.
MP Ranjan Ramanayake during a recent Parliamentary session said he decided to table all his recordings claiming, he had recorded such phone calls with a number of persons in order to use such conversations as evidence in Court cases. A number of Parliamentarians then opposed the release of such recordings in Parliament claiming Parliamentary Privileges and confidentiality clauses.
Subsequent to much opposition, a party leaders’ meeting was called to decide as to whether the recordings of the MP should be released to the MPs. During today’s session, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said after considering recommendations by an expert committee, he will release a total of 19 edited phone conversations of MP Ranjan Ramanayake.
The Speaker said a four-member committee representing both the government and the opposition was appointed to evaluate the recordings and the suitability to release them. He said accordingly, recordings that are deemed do not contain profanity and baseless allegations will be released to Members of Parliament.
However, members of the government and the opposition raised objections to the decision. Minister Wimal Weerawansa said the Speaker should reveal to the House the criteria used to edit and release phone recordings to MPs.
The Speaker then said following the approval of the Party Leaders a committee was appointed to examine the phone recordings. The Speaker added the recordings were released based on the recommendations of the expert committee.
