Is Ali Sabry a fake Finance Minister?
On April 3, Ali Sabry resigned as Minister of Justice by sending a letter written under his hand to the President.
The President did not appoint a new Minister for Justice when he announced his mini cabinet on April 4. Neither did he appoint anyone as the Justice Minister when he swore in his new look ‘system change’ cabinet of 17 on Monday April 19. Accordingly, the Justice Ministry remained vacant since April 4 without a Minister in charge until Ali Sabry was sworn in as its Minister by the President on April 25.
Ali Sabry was sworn in as Minister of Finance in the new four-member mini- cabinet announced by the President on April 4 after he had resigned as Justice Minister the previous day along with the rest of the cabinet.
The following day, Ali Sabry sent a letter written under his hand to the
President resigning as the Finance Minister stating, ‘I hereby tender my resignation from the post of Minister of Finance with immediate effect.’
But three days later, on Friday 8 April, he tells Parliament: ‘ Today I am addressing this House as the Finance Minister. I revoked my resignation as the Finance Minister as no one was willing to take over the ministry.’
But can he unilaterally revoke his resignation after having sent a letter to that effect to the President? Article 47 of the Constitution states that a Minister shall continue to hold office unless he ‘resigns his office by a writing under his hand addressed to the President.’
That Sunday, April 10, Sunday Punch commented: ‘Clearly this does not make any provision for any private understanding between the President and the Minister nor hinge on the President refusing to accept the written resignation. Once the Minister has given notice of his resignation written under his hand addressed to the President, the Minister stands resigned. Only a fresh swearing in can make him a Minister again. ‘
This procedure was correctly followed when Sabry was sworn in as the Justice Minister this Monday, after having resigned from the post on April 2 ‘by writing under his hand addressed to the President.’
But after resigning as Finance Minister on April 5, he has not been sworn in up to now as the nation’s Minister of Finance.
Pray then, will the freshly sworn in Justice Minister, President Counsel Ali Sabry clearly explain what legal right he constitutionally had to claim on Friday 8 April in Parliament that he was the nation’s Minister of Finance? Did he have the proper legal credentials to represent the nation as the constitutionally
appointed Finance Minister of Sri Lanka at the IMF in Washington or was he a just an imposter?