President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday that an independent committee will further study the report submitted by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on the impeachment, after only which he would make a decision based on it.

Addressing an event at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Colombo the President further said that he will do this in order to satisfy his conscience.

I have only to answer my conscience because at the end of the day, I have to be satisfied with the outcome of this report; I have to be satisfied that I have done by job properly. The instructions to appoint a further committee to look into this are my instructions. They aren’t found in a paper or book nor is there a law to it but I will do it in order to satisfy myself,” he said.

The President also said it was the opposition who initiated this process and urged the government to take action against the Chief Justice after the NSB- TFC fiasco.

“How did this all start? The opposition went and submitted a complaint with the Commissioner of Bribery and Corruption without even our knowledge. The opposition then said that punishing the husband will not suffice because his wife holds a high post therefore they said that justice won’t be meted. I wasn’t the one who did it. All government MP’s were completely silent on the matter. They were the people who went to the bribery commissioner and told the media that they would initiate an impeachment motion first. Either way now the motion has been inquired into by the PSC and we aren’t able to talk about it until the lapse of a month after which this will be debated in parliament” he said.