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Five-judge bench of Supreme Court to hear arguments on 9 July
AG’s appeal against granting bail to accused in SLPP MP’s killing:
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam, PC, has appealed to the Supreme Court against the granting of bail to 41 accused in the killing of Polonnaruwa District SLPP MP Amarakeethi Athukorala and his Personal Security Officer (PSO) Jayantha Gunawardena on 09 May 2022, at Nittambuwa.
The AG’s appeal has been fixed for argument on 09 July, 2024, before a bench comprising five Judges, presided by Justice P. Surasena, the AG’s Department has informed Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC.
The AG’s Department has said so after Minister Rajapakse called for a report in respect of our news report, headlined ‘SLPP MP’s violent death during Aragalaya: Govt should be ashamed of delay in serving justice – Head of National Security Sectoral Oversight Committee‘ published on the front page of The Island edition of April 16.
The Justice Minister has been informed that in spite of strong objections by the AG to release the accused on bail at the time of serving of indictments and to have a day-to-day trial, the Trial-at-Bar released the accused on bail on the grounds that they had been in remand custody for over one year.
The AG has declared that his Department felt aggrieved by the decision of the Trail-at-Bar to release the accused on bail.
MP Atukorale was on his way back home after attending a Temple Trees meeting, chaired by then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, when a mob intercepted his car in the Nittambuwa town. The armed police bodyguard was also killed.
According to the AG’s Department, the initial investigations conducted by the Nittambuwa Police and subsequently taken over by the Homicide Unit of the CID during C.D. Wickremeratne’s tenure as the IGP. Having concluded the investigation, the Homicide Unit of the CID has submitted the relevant material to the AG and sought his advice.
Justice Minister Rajapakse told The Island that he immediately sought clarification from the AG after the latest report was brought to his notice.
Having perused the material submitted by the CID, the AG has decided to move for a Trail-at-Bar, according to the note received by the Justice Minister. The AG dispatched the indictment against 41 accused to the High Court of Gampaha before requesting Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, PC, in terms of 450 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code on May 09, 2023 to consider appointing a Trial-at-Bar to hear the case.
The Chief Justice has given the go ahead by nominating three High Court Judges, Sahan Mapa Bandara, Rashmi Singappulli and. Ruwan Pathirana to have a Trail-at-Bar sitting at Gampaha.
The indictments which were preferred against the 41 accused contained 14 charges, including two counts of murder, around 350 witnesses and 400 productions.
While the AG’s appeal regarding the bail order is pending before the Supreme Court, the Trail-at-Bar commenced and is in progress, the Justice Minister said, referring to the note he received from the AG. The prosecution has concluded the evidence of two witnesses who had played a key role in the course of the investigations. The Court has been informed that their next witness would be Nuwan Sandagiri, the representative of the Government Analyst’s Department who had done the analysis pertaining to the Fascial Recognition of the accused and the digital evidence.
The High Court trial will resume on April 25, 2024, and will continue on Thursday afternoons and Fridays of every week.
COPF final report on USD 2.5 mn cyber fraud recommends action against all responsible
The US$2.5 million loss incurred during Sri Lanka’s foreign debt repayment to Australia was a clear case of a cybercrime and theft, Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chairman Dr. Harsha de Silva told Parliament yesterday.
Presenting the COPF final report on the cyber fraud, Dr. de Silva said the incident amounted to a serious financial crime and called for a comprehensive investigation, by law enforcement authorities, to identify and prosecute all those responsible.
The report revealed serious governance, procedural and operational failures that enabled the fraudulent transfer of public funds, while recommending sweeping reforms to strengthen cybersecurity, financial controls and public debt management systems.
According to the report, officials of the Treasury and the Central Bank bore responsibility for governance lapses that contributed to the failures. It also highlighted the fact that the Ministry of Finance was operating an outdated Microsoft Exchange Server after security support had ended, while basic safeguards, such as multi-factor authentication, had not been implemented.
The COPF said suspicious payment instructions linked to debt repayments involving India, the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium had also been detected, preventing further losses. However, the US$ 2.5 million fraud materialised only in the repayment transaction involving Australia.
The report has noted that officials had failed to verify lender email domains, relied on unverified email communications and lacked adequate internal controls, allowing the fraud to continue for months.
Although the investigation uncovered system-wide weaknesses across several institutions, only four mid-level Finance Ministry officials had been suspended so far, the report said.
The COPF has recommended a special audit of the foreign debt repayment process, strengthened cybersecurity measures across state institutions, updated financial regulations and improvements to public debt management systems.
by Saman Indrajith
News
Opposition signs no-confidence motion against Justice Minister for dereliction of duty over Negombo Prison deaths
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, together with Opposition MPs, yesterday signed a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) in Parliament against Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara.The move comes in response to the unrest at the Negombo Prison, where both prison officers and inmates were killed.
Opposition members said the Minister had failed to fulfill his responsibility and accountability regarding their safety.According to the Opposition group, the NCM seeks to hold the Minister directly accountable for lapses in ensuring protection within the prison system.
The Attorney General yesterday informed the Supreme Court that the government has decided to review the legality of agreements entered into by the previous administration to hand over the country’s electronic visa issuance operations to private companies.
Additional Solicitor General Viveka Siriwardena, appearing for the Attorney General, made the submission when the Supreme Court took up the fundamental rights petitions filed by former MPs President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran, Patali Champika Ranawaka, and Rauff Hakeem, challenging the previous Cabinet’s decision to outsource the e-visa system.
The petitions were heard before a three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justices Achala Wengappuli and Arjuna Obeyesekere.
The Additional Solicitor General informed court that the current Cabinet had appointed a subcommittee to examine the legality of the agreements with the private companies and requested time to report on its findings, stating that the review was still underway.
President’s Counsel Sumanthiran, appearing as one of the petitioners, told the court that although the present government had indicated its intention to cancel the transaction, the petitioners wished to proceed with the case.
He noted that members of the current Cabinet had been named as respondents in the petitions.The Supreme Court directed the petitioners to issue notice on the members of the current Cabinet, named as respondents, and fixed September 29 for further proceedings.
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