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Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe

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Hon.
Wijeyadasa Rajapakse
MP, PC
විජයදාස රාජපක්ෂ
விஜயதாச ராஜபக்ஷ
Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms
In office
12 May 2022 – 29 July 2024
PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa
Ranil Wickremesinghe
Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe
Dinesh Gunawardena
Preceded byAli Sabry
Succeeded byAli Sabry
In office
12 January 2015 – 23 August 2017
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe
Preceded byRauff Hakeem
Succeeded byThalatha Atukorale
Minister of Higher Education and Cultural Affairs
In office
1 May 2018 – 26 October 2018
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterRanil Wickramasinghe
Preceded byKabir Hashim
Minister of Education
In office
29 October 2018 – 15 December 2018
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterMahinda Rajapakse
Minister of Buddha Sasana
In office
4 September 2015 – 23 August 2017
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe
Preceded byKaru Jayasuriya
Succeeded byGamini Jayawickrama Perera
Non-Cabinet Minister for State Banks Development
In office
23 November 2005 – 23 April 2010
PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa
Prime MinisterRatnasiri Wickremanayake
Member of Parliament
for Colombo District
In office
2010 – 24 September 2024
Member of Parliament
for National List
In office
2004–2010
7th Chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party
Disputed
Assumed office
12 May 2024
Preceded byMaithripala Sirisena
Personal details
Born (1959-03-16) 16 March 1959 (age 65)
NationalitySri Lankan
Political partySri Lanka Freedom Party (2004–2010, since 2024)
United National Party (2010–2019)
Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (2019–2024)
ProfessionLawyer

Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, MP, PC (born 16 March 1959) is a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. He was the Minister of Justice from 2022 to 2024[1] and from 2015 to 2017. He was the prime minister's nominee for the Constitutional Council of Sri Lanka.[2]

During the 2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis, he had briefly served as the Minister of Education and Higher Education, and his post was suspended by the court in 2018. He was controversially appointed as the chairman of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 2024 and was announced as the party's presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential elections.[3]

Political career

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In May 2004 he was appointed as a Member of Parliament to represent the ruling party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and was offered the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs which was refused by him. Later he continued as the only Member of Parliament on the government side, without holding any portfolio. Following the 2005 presidential elections, President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed him as the Minister of State Banking Development in November 2005, but he resigned in April 2006 on a matter of policy. He also resigned from the post of the party organiser in the Maharagama electorate. Thereafter he was elected the Chairman of the Committee On Public Enterprises in July 2006 and presented the first report in January 2007, which led to serious controversies both local and overseas. He gained publicity for highlighting corruption in the public sector. In 2007, LMD magazine named him "Sri Lankan of the year 2007".[4]

In 2010, he was elected to Parliament from the Colombo District. In 2012, he was elected President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. During his tenure he led the Bar Association in support of former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake during her impeachment. Following the 2015 presidential election he was appointed Minister of Justice. In 2017, he was sacked from his ministerial position by President Maithripala Sirisena at the request by the United National Party[5] due to his views against the privatisation and involvement of the judiciary by the government. He was appointed Minister of Higher Education and Cultural Affairs in May 2018. In 2018, with the onset of the 2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis, he was appointed to the new cabinet of ministers headed by Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Minister of Education and Higher Education in October 2018.[6]

MV X-Press Pearl compensation controversy

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Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe was appointed Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms by in May 2022 by Gotabaya Rajapaksa and continued in this capacity under Ranil Wickremesinghe. In August 2023, he confirmed that the owners of X-Press Pearl had agreed to pay compensation of USD 878,000 and LKR 16 Million[7] after the Government of Sri Lanka had initially claimed USD 40 million in 2021.[8] This was after earlier that year, when he had claimed that local official had been bribed by the insurer of the tanker MV X-Press Pearl.[9]

Chairman of Sri Lanka Freedom Party

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Rajapakshe was appointed the chairman of Sri Lanka Freedom Party on 12 May 2024, following the resignation of Maithripala Sirisena.[10] However on 20 May, the Colombo District Court issued an interim order preventing Rajapakshe from functioning as the party chairman, after considering a complaint submitted by Duminda Dissanayake.[11]

References

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  1. ^ "Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe resigns as Justice Minister". www.adaderana.lk. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  2. ^ http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=local/champika-wijeyadasa-vijitha-appointed-cc [dead link]
  3. ^ "Wickremesinghe to face his own cabinet colleague in Lanka presidential polls this year". The Week. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
  4. ^ DeChikera, Wijith (25 August 2017). "The good, the bad, and the ugly – and how it is harder to tell them apart now". DailyFT. Wijeya Newspapers. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  5. ^ "President approves removal of Wijeyadasa Rajapakse".
  6. ^ Wijeyadasa Education and Higher Education Minister
  7. ^ "X-Press Pearl owners agree to compensate: amount revealed". Newswire. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  8. ^ "Sri Lanka seeks initial $40m from fire-ravaged ship's operator". Aljazeera. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  9. ^ "MV X-Press Pearl compensation controversy: Several tip-offs received on official being bribed, Wijeyadasa claims". The Morning.
  10. ^ "Maithripala resigns as SLFP Chairman, Wijeyadasa appointed as successor - Breaking News | Daily Mirror". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  11. ^ "Interim injunction issued against Wijeyadasa and Keerthi Udawatta". www.adaderana.lk. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
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