Petition filed against ex-President Ranil and others over liquor licenses

A Fundamental Rights (FR) petition has been filed with the Supreme Court seeking an order that the fundamental human rights have been violated through the decision by the respondents including former President Ranil Wickremesinghe to issue liquor licenses in violation of the Excise Act after the 2024 Presidential Election was announced.

The petition was filed by Chamara Sampath Abeysekara and N. Ravichandran, two liquor retail businessmen in Kandy, naming 39 individuals including former President and former Minister of Finance Ranil Wickremesinghe, former Commissioner General of Excise M.J. Gunasiri, Finance Ministry Secretary, Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe and the Chairman of the Bribery Commission, as respondents in the plaint.

The petitioners allege that the respondents have issued a number of liquor licenses in violation of the Excise Act, within the period from July 26 to September 21, 2024, during which the Presidential Election had been announced.

Furthermore, they allege that these licenses have been issued with the objective of obtaining support in the presidential election and that they have been issued in an arbitrary and unjust manner by avoiding the provisions of the Excise Act.

The petition further allege that under this, the previous government’s Members of Parliament, their relatives and close associates have obtained liquor licenses and that the licenses had been issued without proper transparency.

Meanwhile, the petitioners have pointed out that according to the general legal procedure, the government receives about Rs. 15 million as revenue from one businessman in the process of issuing a liquor license, and that the previous government has lost a significant amount of revenue due to the issuance of liquor licenses through this illegal procedure.

Accordingly, the petitioners seek an order be issued to the respondents of the petition to submit to the court information related to all liquor licenses issued in an illegal manner between July 26 and September 21, when the 2024 presidential election was announced.

Furthermore, the attorneys of the petitioning party have sought an order be issued to the Bribery Commission to conduct an investigation into the relevant liquor licenses and submit a report to the court regarding the matter.

In addition, the petitioners have further requested the Supreme Court to issue an order to the Bribery Commission to investigate whether any irregularities have taken place in the Department of Excise through this process and to submit a report on the same.