President’s Counsel Anura Meddegoda has been appointed as the new President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL).

Meanwhile, President’s Counsel Razik Zarook has been appointed as the Deputy President of the BASL. 

The position of BASL President had remained vacant following the resignation of President’s Counsel Kaushalya Nawaratne from the post on September 13.

The Bar Council of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) on August 31 had unanimously decided to call for the resignation of Nawaratne, following an inquiry into allegations related to the BASL project funded by the JICA relating to the promotion of a transparent and competitive business climate (Anti-Corruption) in Sri Lanka.

A former Chairman of the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA), Meddegoda is a President’s Counsel (since 2017) with over 40 years of legal experience. He served in the Attorney General’s Department (as Senior State Counsel) for nearly 20 years. 

Thereafter he joined The Hague’s United Nations International Criminal Tribunal’s Office of the Prosecutor as a Legal Adviser in 1994 and served for 10 years. 

President’s Counsel Razik Zarook is the former Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka. 

A former Chairman of a number of Public Corporations, Zarook is a senior Attorney-at-Law in active practice. He was Chairman of the Bank of Ceylon, the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment, the Agricultural Development Authority and the National Aquatic Research and Development Authority (NARA). 

He served in the diplomatic service as Ambassador to the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and thereafter as the first Ambassador to Hungary. Subsequently, he was appointed as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Singapore.