Indictments on Sarath Kumara Gunaratne, five others

Thursday, April 26, 2018

The Colombo High Court yesterday served indictments on former Deputy Minister Sarath Kumara Gunaratne and five others.

This is for allegedly misappropriating Rs.11.2 million public funds allocated for the Negombo Lagoon Development Project and utilising it for former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidential election campaign.

When the case came up before High Court Judge R. Gurusinghe, the six accused were ordered to be released on a cash bail of Rs.25,000 with two sureties of Rs.500,000 each.

The High Court further ordered to continue the travel ban imposed against the accused during the magisterial inquiry.

The officers attached to Colombo High Court’s police post were directed to obtain their fingerprints to ascertain their previous convictions.

 The Attorney General had filed indictments against six accused including former Fisheries Deputy Minister Sarath Kumara Gunaratne, his son-in-law Upul Chaminda Kumarasinghe, Ceylon Fisheries Harbour Corporation’s (CFHC) former Chairman Upali Liyanage, its former General Manager Piyal Abeysekara, Chandana Pelpita and Lakmina Munidasa.

They were charged under Public Property Act for the alleged misappropriation of Rs.11.2 million belonging to the CFHC during the 2015 Presidential Election. The Attorney General alleged that the accused had committed six offences under Public Property Act, between November 20, 2014 and January 7, 2015.

The Special Presidential Investigation Commission had recommended that the Attorney General’s advice be sought to institute legal action against the persons responsible for this alleged financial fraud.

Senior State Counsel Sudarshana de Silva appeared for the Attorney General.

President’s Counsel Nalin Ladduwahetty with Saliya Peiris PC, Senior Counsel Lal Kularatne, Upul Kumarapperuma, counsel Sampath Mendis, Thilina Kollure and Gayathri Wijesuriya appeared for the accused.