Wickremesinghe, Samaraweera to appear in court on MoU

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 August 2007, 10:28 GMT]
The Colombo District Court Tuesday issued notices on Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), and Mr.Mangala Samaraweera, leader of the newly formed Peoples Wing of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to appear in court on August 21 to show cause on why an interim injunction should not be issued against the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by them on July 19, legal sources said.



According to the MoU Mr.Wickremasinghe and Mr.Samaraweera had agreed to form a new political group named National Alliance for future political activities.

Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe and Mr.Mangala Samaraweera have been cited as respondents in a petition filed by Mr.Anura Bastian, former UNP parliamentarian and Mr.Anil Kumara Wijesinghe, former UNP Western Provincial Councillor, seeking the court to declare the said MoU null and void as Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe has signed it without obtaining the approval of UNP executive committee.

Petitioners further state that Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe has no authority to sign such MoU, according to the party's constitution.

"Hence we seek the court to issue an interim injunction on the implementation of the MoU until the inquiry into the petition is completed," the petitioners begged the court.

Counsel Mr. Ikram Mohamed made submissions on behalf of the petitioners.

Meanwhile, the UNP officially announced Tuesday that the MoU signed by Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe and Mr.Mangala Samaraweera had been approved by the UNP executive committee, sources said.