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This is in response to Professor Hoole’s statement that you wanted the readers to pay particular attention to last Sunday. In his statement under the heading “Jeevan Hoole, Douglas Devananda and the Police”, Dr Hoole has brought the investigation for his criminal behaviour to the press in total disregard for the judicial process.

Instead of appearing before the Court of Law and present ing his defence, by issuing a statement to the media, not only was he propagating falsified information but also showed an arrogant contempt for the law and a total disregard for the role of the judiciary in a democracy. In an attempt to justify his actions, he has also tried to mudsling against the judges in Jaffna.

Since I have been advising the complainants that resulted in the criminal investigation against Dr.Hoole, I think I should provide some clarification about what led to the complaint.

After the local government elections on the 23rd of July, I believe on the 24th, I was consulted by a retired teacher from Kayts about a number of allegations particularly against the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party members and Minister Devananda which appeared in an article on a Tamil website.  He was visibly angry and he had a printout of the said article. This article was titled “Pitfalls in the President’s Alliance with the EPDP – A visit to Kayts on Elections Day” and was written by Dr. Hoole.  I was able to see that it was filled with venomous contents. It indicated hatred within the writer particularly against Minister Douglas Devananda, his party members, his workers and his supporters. In this article Dr.Hoole has made several allegations namely,  “gun-toting cadres lead by Minister Douglas Devananda”, “violent EPDP”,  “Devananda with several serious allegations of criminality”,  “Wikileaks revelations through US Embassy Cables of his (Minister Devananda’s) business deals in supplying Tamil girls”,  “the army’s own statements that his (Minister Devananda’s) cadres are responsible for  the night time robberies and murders in Jaffna”, “he (Minister Devananda) has become a zero in the eyes of the Tamil public except for hangers-on wanting jobs and contracts”, “the President should deal with truly elected leaders instead of criminals (referring to Minister Devananda)” etc.

That retired teacher was angry since none of the assertions in Dr. Hoole’s article were true. He strongly felt that it was not only Minister Devananda but all his party members, workers and those associated with him who were being disgraced by Dr. Hoole. He wanted to take action against Dr.Hoole. I cooled him down advising that I would look into it and revert to him in a day or two.

The following day I had been consulted by above 20 people, including women, mainly from the Islets on the same matter.  They were all with EPDP.  They were very angry that they were accused of carrying guns; they were violent; their leader was accused of supplying girls and described as a criminal; and they were accused of being involved in the night time robberies and murders in Jaffna. Few of the unemployed were angry that they were named as hangers-on by Dr.Hoole. A Jaffna University undergraduate told me that the hanger-on would best suit Dr.Hoole himself because it was he who was annoyingly following the Minister for weeks for the Jaffna University VC post.  Some of them wanted to go on a protest march against Dr. Hoole to the Jaffna University demanding an apology.  Some others wanted to picket Kayts police station demanding action against Dr. Hoole.

I was worried that it might end up in a break down of the peace. They were not prepared to listen that following the local authority elections, all the processions etc., were banned for a week. I therefore decided to consult Minister Douglas Devananda.

I carefully read Dr. Hoole’s article and I also carefully read the Wikileaks Disclosures. I couldn’t agree that they were revelations as claimed by Dr. Hoole and they were just unsubstantiated disclosures received by the US Embassy in Colombo in 2007 from their contact and as confirmed by the Ambassador Dr. Robert O. Blake himself that “none of the evidence put forward by the contacts constitutes a smoking gun”. Besides, in the Wikileaks Cables it was the men associated with the EPDP and the EPDP and, not the Minister Douglas Devananda who was named as involved in supplying women and involved in prostitution rackets. Professor Hoole claims in his statement dated August 2, 2011 that being careful with his words is part of his training and that all he has written, he has written with care and truthfulness. I also had no doubt that the Minister was referred as a criminal by Dr. Hoole.  Other complainants confirmed that none of the allegations in Dr. Hoole’s article were true. There were also allegations that Dr. Hoole was continuously writing articles targeting Minister Devananda for revenge.

The Minister was also obviously very angry when he read the article. I advised them that what Dr. Hoole has done is a criminal offence under the Penal Code and we should lodge the complaint to the police. It was then decided that the Minister would lodge the complaint on behalf of all and the complaint would be lodged in any one of the police stations in the Islets since it was the people from there who wanted to take action against Dr. Hoole. Dr Hoole’s article was also targeting Kayts.

If not for the police complaint we would have witnessed a very ugly scene in the streets. I still believe and am confident that the complaint to the police was the right thing in this case. As the foreign educated English speaking Professor Dr. Hoole now claims, “in a civil matter he (Minister Devananda) has involved the police as if this is a criminal matter” is simply not correct. If he had sound legal advice he would have known that it was not criminal defamation that was complained of. If Dr. Hoole believed that it was a civil matter, why didn’t he refuse to give a statement to the police and, why didn’t he attend the Courts and disprove the complaint?

If Dr. Hoole thinks that by his writing to The Sunday Leader he has proved his innocence, he is wrong.  His statement to the press is evidently misleading and devoid of truth. Mindful of any issues under judicial deliberation, I do not want to say anymore.

I am instructed to look after the interests of the complainants and I will make sure that justice will prevail.

By Rengan Devarajan
Attorney-at-Law, Jaffna

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2011/08/14/hold-down-hoole/

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