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The Speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament, Karu Jayasuriya, on Thursday said that in his view the country did not have a prime minister or cabinet after Wednesday's no-confidence vote.

The parliament passed the no-confidence motion against recently appointed prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government, with the backing of 122 lawmakers from the 225-member legislature.

However, President Maithripala Sirisena in a letter to the speaker said he cannot accept the no-confidence vote as the speaker appeared to have ignored the constitution, parliamentary procedure and traditions.

President Sirisena, who triggered the crisis by firing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and naming Rajapaksa to the job late last month, dissolved parliament last week and ordered elections as a way to break the deadlock.

But the Supreme Court ordered a suspension of that decree on Tuesday until it had heard petitions challenging the move as unconstitutional.

(Reuters)

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has issued a statement confirming the no-confidence motion (NCM) adopted against 'purported' prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government was passed by a majority with 122 MPs signing in favour of motion.The Speaker will inform president Sirisena on the decision taken by the parliament today, the Speaker's Media Office said. Copies of the motion as well as the list containing signatures will be sent to president Maithripala Sirisena for necessary action.

List containing the signatures of 122 MPs that supported the NCM against Mahinda Rajapaksa:

After three weeks of political turmoil, Sri Lanka’s controversially dismissed Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, appears to have gained the upper hand. A majority of lawmakers backed a no-confidence motion in Parliament against Mahinda Rajapaksa, a former President who was sworn in Prime Minister on October 26. 

The Speaker declared the motion to have been passed by voice vote, as Mr. Rajapaksa’s loyalists sought to block the motion being taken up. Mr. Rajapaksa himself walked out of the parliamentary chamber before the vote was taken, with his supporters questioning the no-trust motion being taken up with such urgency. This contention could pale before the fact that as many as 122 MPs, in a House of 225, signed a memorandum expressing lack of confidence in his government to the Speaker. The noisy scenes and attempts to disrupt the vote reflected the deep divisions between the country’s main national parties. 

Mr. Sirisena’s decisions in the last three weeks have been against the letter and spirit of the Constitution, especially the reforms enacted in 2015 to curb the vast powers that come with his office. He removed the Prime Minister despite constitutional restrictions on doing so and had another sworn in. He prorogued Parliament to delay the demonstration of a parliamentary majority by Mr. Rajapaksa. On being confronted with the reality that the numbers were stacked against Mr. Rajapaksa, the President dissolved the legislature itself. The House was revived by an interim order from the Supreme Court. 

It is now clearer than ever that Mr. Sirisena had needlessly plunged the country into a deep crisis by replacing the Prime Minister without ascertaining the numbers in the House. It is quite surprising that Mr. Rajapaksa, whose political instincts ought to have made him decide otherwise, agreed to be sworn in solely on the premise that he could induce crossovers. 

With these two leaders smarting under the setback in Parliament, it is difficult to consider the latest development as the end of political uncertainty. Mr. Sirisena needs to appoint a new Prime Minister immediately, but is averse to Mr. Wickremesinghe returning to that office. He had earlier indicated that he offered the post to two other members of Mr. Wickremesinghe’s United National Party, but had to appoint Mr. Rajapaksa as they had turned down the offer. It would be untenable if he lets Mr. Rajapaksa continue as a lame duck Prime Minister by again invoking his powers to prorogue the House. 

It is time that Mr. Sirisena, who was elected on a promise of political and institutional reform, showed some statesmanship and found a way to work with Mr. Wickremesinghe again. It would be unwise for him to further exacerbate the crisis. He would do better to turn the page and focus on problems such as Sri Lanka’s bleak economic situation and unresolved minority concerns. 

Note: Editorial today (15) by "The Hindu".

The Financing Intelligence Unit of Sri Lanka entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Motor Traffic to intesify its fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. 

The aim is to receive intelligence information related to investigations and prosecutions of money laundering, terrorist financing and other related crimes.  

Money laundering and terrorist financing are internationally connected financial crimes which could threaten the stability of domestic as well as global economic and financial systems. 

The MOU with the DMT would enable FIU to gather intelligence and information which is vital for prevention, detection and prosecution of such offences. 

The FIU has already entered into MOUs with 37 foreign counterparts as well as 7 domestic government agencies such as Sri Lanka Customs, Department of Immigration and Emigration, Inland Revenue Department, Department for Registration of Persons, Sri Lanka Police, Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka and Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka in order to share information to strengthen the AML/CFT framework of the country.

Parliamentarian Dilum Amunugama was injured today in Parliament when he was trying to break a wire connected to the Speaker's microphone.

He has been admitted to the Medical Unit of the Parliament and is being treated.

This was an attempt by Amunugma to sabotage today's proceedings in Parliament and not due to a clash between MPs, reporters in Parliament said.

SLFP MPs A.H.M. Fowzi and Piyasena Gamage along with Manusha Nanayakkara crossed over to the opposition today in support of the no-confidence motion brought against 'purported' prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Furthermore, Wasantha Senanayake and Vadivel Suresh, who crossed over to the Maithri-Mahinda government last week, have also announced their resignations from their respective Ministerial Portfolios.

They added that they would support the United National Party.

The attention of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has been drawn to recent grievances received from the general public regarding financial scams spreading through phishing emails/ social media messages.  

CBSL has noticed that the image of the Head Office building, the Logo of CBSL, names of senior officials of CBSL, are being used by scammers and fraudsters to solicit money from the public by disguising such scams as being sent from a trustworthy entity. 

Fake email addresses such as This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. etc. are used to send these emails. Recipients of these emails are informed of having won a large cash prize in foreign currency through a mobile number draw or through a certain well-known international brand promotional campaign and are persuaded to deposit certain amount of funds to claim the prize. Further these emails deceive the email recipients, by attempting to obtain personal information including passport/ national identity card numbers, bank account details etc. for authentication purposes, to send cash prizes. 

In this regard, the Central Bank wishes to inform the general public that the CBSL has no involvement with such reward schemes. CBSL has already reported this matter to relevant Law enforcement authorities for necessary action. Hence, the general public is requested not to be victims of such financial scams and to respond to such promises of monetary giveaways by first contacting respective institution/ company that the suspicious email claims to be from to confirm the authenticity of such emails and if found to be a scam, to inform the nearest Police Station for investigations immediately.

Sri Lanka’s Parliament today passed a no-confidence vote against the government headed by Mahinda Rajapaksa, a former strongman hastily sworn in as prime minister last month.

The motion brought Wednesday morning by the leader of teh Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna could mean that Rajapaksa will have to resign his post.

Parliament convened for the first time since Oct. 27, when President Maithripala Sirisena suspended the legislature after firing the sitting prime minister and Cabinet in a power struggle and plunging the island nation into a crisis.

Sirisena dissolved Parliament last week in a bid to build support for Rajapaksa but the Supreme Court ordered the legislature to keep working until next month.

Dayasiri Jayasekara admitted that the Maithri-Mahinda faction lacked a majority in parliament today.

He made this observation at the cabinet press briefing that was held at the Department of Government Information. He also stated that Ranil Wickrmesinghe too does not have the numbers to prove a majority.

However, the parliament passed a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) against the country’s purported prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, removing him and his cabinet from their posts. The Speaker in a release said that 122 MPs have voted in favour of the NCM.

As per the gazette notification No. 2095/50 issued by president Maithripala Sirisena on 04th of November 2018, Parliament will reconvene at 10.00 am tomorrow, a release from the Speaker's Office said.

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina B. Teplitz, tweeted that she was honoured to see democracy in action after her visit to parliament today. Teplitz said that she was glad to see the parliament fulfilling the constitutional role once again.


Meanwhile, the German Ambassador to Sri Lanka,  Joern Rohde, in a tweet yesterday, hailed the Supreme Court for the interim order as it allowed the parliament to exercise its constitutional role.

Crony Rajapaksa loyalists that were appointed to head all state media institutions have fled following the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend president Maithripala Sirisena’s unconstitutional dissolution of Parliament, sources within state media said.

It is also reported that former strongman Rajapaksa’s goons at ITN and Rupavahini, who took hold of the institutions and attacked several journalists as soon as Rajapaksa was sworn in as prime minister on October 26, have also fled their respective institutions.

Sources said that leaders of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna have advised their trade union representatives, who resorted to attacks, both verbal and physical on Cotober 26, to leave their institutions.