A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, July 13, 2017
Avant-Garde case against Gota, fixed for August 11
A corruption
case filed against former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and
seven others for allegedly causing a Rs.11.4 billion unlawful loss to
the government when giving permission to Avant-Garde Maritime Services
(Pvt) Ltd to operate a floating armoury was yesterday fixed for August
11 by Colombo Chief Magistrate’s court.
When the matter came up before Chief Magistrate Lal Ranasinghe Bandara,
both parties were directed to submit their written submissions regarding
defence’s preliminary objections before next hearing date.
President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva appearing on behalf of first accused
Gotabaya Rajapaksa had raised a preliminary objections alleging that
the Bribery Commission Director General had filed this case without the
written sanction of the Bribery Commission.
He moved Court that case proceeding pertaining to the matter be
terminated since the case had been filed without the consent of the
Bribery Commission. The Defence Counsel further moved Court that the
notices issued against the accused be recalled since the notices were
injuria (unlawful).
However, Senior State Counsel Janaka Bandara appearing on behalf of the
Bribery Commission informed Court that the Bribery Commission had given
its consent to this legal action. He said the Director General of
Bribery Commission is vested with power to file cases in the
Magistrate’s Court in accordance with the Bribery Commission Act and
cited a judgement issued by Court of Appeal.
When the matter came up before the Chief Magistrate, seven accused,
former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Avant Garde Chairman Major
Nissanka Senadhipathi, former Navy Commanders Somatilleke Dissanayake,
Jayanath Kolambage and Jayantha Perera, Rtd. Major General Palitha
Piyasiri Fernando and Banda Adhikari were present in Courts. Meanwhile,
the Chief Magistrate had at a previous occasion had allowed to proceed
the case in absentia of second accused Sujatha Damayanthi, former
Additional Secretary to the Defence Ministry.
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption had
filed this case against eight accused under Section 70 of the Bribery
Act.
The Bribery Commission alleged that the accused had had given permission
to Avant-Garde Maritime Services (Pvt) Ltd to operate a floating
armoury between August 7, 2012 and January 8, 2015 in violation of laws
by providing unlawful income to this private company, amounting to
Rs.11.4 billion