Colombo High Court Judge Mohamed Mihal yesterday (09) found former Deputy Minister Sarana Gunawardena (UPFA) guilty on four counts of corruption charges and was sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment for each count. Accordingly, the court ordered a total sentence of 16 years of rigorous imprisonment.

In addition, the court imposed a fine of Rs. 1.8 mn on the ex-MP in respect of the four cases.

The indictments were filed by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) under Section 70 of the Bribery Act of 1954, alleging the offence of corruption.

The prosecution alleged that, while serving as Chairman of the Development Lotteries Board in 2006, Gunawardena caused a loss to the State by procuring vehicles for the institution on a rental basis. Based on these allegations, CIABOC filed the four cases against him in 2022.

Opposition and SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday (09) called on the Government to immediately table in Parliament the Treasury report on the alleged USD 2.5 million financial loss.

Addressing the House, Premadasa said contradictory positions taken by the Central Bank and the Treasury had triggered what he described as a serious crisis in economic policy coherence, undermining the consistency required for effective fiscal and monetary management.

He warned that such divergences in official positions were weakening confidence at a time when both fiscal and monetary frameworks required clarity, coordination and predictability.

The Opposition Leader also urged the government to present a comprehensive policy framework on fiscal and monetary management, including the instruments in use, their respective targets, and the institutions tasked with implementation.

Premadasa further called for disclosure of the extent to which agreements with multilateral lenders and development partners, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Asian Development Bank, have influenced domestic policy decisions, particularly in relation to primary balance and revenue targets.

Drawing attention to the cost-of-living burden, he questioned the Government’s claim that Rs. 17,000 was sufficient for an individual to meet monthly living expenses, asking whether such an amount could realistically cover both food and non-food requirements.

He also sought details of measures taken to alleviate economic pressure on the middle class, professionals, small and medium enterprises, farmers, fishermen and low-income groups, who, he said, continue to be affected by high taxation, expenditure constraints and elevated interest rates.

Premadasa stressed the need to strengthen parliamentary oversight and enhance public accountability in the formulation and implementation of fiscal and monetary policy.

by Saman Indrajith

Mrs. Manori Sallay wife of Retired Major General Suresh Sallay yesterday appealed to President Dissanayake to cancel the detention order issued in respect of Sallay.

The text of her letter to the President:

I write to you today not merely as the wife of Retired Major General Suresh Sallay, but as a desperate wife, a distressed mother, and a citizen pleading for the preservation of a human life that is now hanging by a thread.

I respectfully refer to my previous communication requesting that the detention order issued against my husband not be extended. Regrettably, despite that appeal, the detention order was extended for a further period of ninety days. I now write once again, with far greater urgency, because I genuinely fear that unless immediate intervention is made, my husband may not survive his detention.

The Magistrate’s Court proceedings relating to my husband’s detention were called before the Fort Magistrate’s Court on 20 May 2026.

During those proceedings, the Learned Magistrate confirmed receipt of the Judicial Medical Officer’s report that had been prepared pursuant to the Court’s orders. Through our attorneys-at-law, we filed a motion on 21 May 2026 seeking access to the report, and the report was subsequently released to us on 29 May 2026.The findings of the Judicial Medical Officer and the recommendations of several medical consultants are deeply alarming. The report clearly states that my husband suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), is at a high risk of suicide, and has been subjected to torture and ill-treatment during his detention.The conclusions of the Judicial Medical Officer fundamentally corroborate what my husband has consistently maintained regarding the physical and psychological abuse he has suffered whilst in detention.

Disturbed by these findings, we immediately filed a motion before Court on 3 June 2026 with notice to the Honourable Attorney General and the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department. Despite being duly notified, neither representatives of the Attorney General’s Department nor officers from the CID appeared before Court on that date.

Given the seriousness of the circumstances, the Learned Magistrate adjourned the matter to the following day, 4 June 2026.

On that date, Counsel appearing for my husband urged the Court to immediately change his place of detention and to ensure that he be produced before a multidisciplinary panel of medical consultants in accordance with the final recommendations contained in the Judicial Medical Officer’s report.

Subsequently, on 6 June 2026, my son and my brother-in-law were permitted to visit my husband. During that visit, my husband informed them that he could no longer endure the inhuman treatment to which he had been subjected and that he had commenced a Fast Unto Death. He instructed my son to contact his lawyers to execute his last will and testament and stated his wish to donate his eyes after his death.

It was painfully evident that he was not in a proper mental state to make decisions concerning his own welfare. His mental condition had clearly deteriorated due to the prolonged abuse, isolation, and suffering he had endured.

Consequently, we immediately lodged a complaint with the Inspector General of Police detailing the circumstances and requesting urgent intervention and his transfer from the current place of detention.

Following a request made through SDIG CID Asanka Karawita, I was granted an opportunity to visit my husband. During that visit it became painfully clear that his physical condition was deteriorating rapidly.Yet officers present informed me that they had received no instructions to transfer him to a hospital despite his visible medical distress.

Alarmed by this failure to take immediate action, Counsel for my husband wrote to the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, highlighting the State’s responsibility to safeguard the life of a detainee and requesting urgent hospitalisation and medical intervention.

Through media reports, we subsequently learned that my husband had finally been admitted to the National Hospital of Sri Lanka later that evening. We have since been informed that his blood sugar levels had fallen to alarmingly low levels at the time of admission.

Your Excellency, his condition remains extremely serious.

Today, the nutritionist attending to him informed me that the continuation of his hunger strike will inevitably affect his vital organs and may result in cardiac arrest.

However, the danger he faces extends far beyond the immediate consequences of fasting.

Following prolonged physical degradation, substandard conditions of confinement, and systemic abuse, my husband has now commenced a Fast Unto Death.

Combined with the severe conditions under which he has been detained, this places him at an acute day-to-day risk of catastrophic physiological collapse.

He is now suffering from severe malnutrition and muscle wasting. After more than one hundred days of being provided inadequate and poor-quality food, compounded by his current total fasting, his body has begun consuming its own remaining reserves. His muscles are visibly wasting away, and his overall physical strength has drastically diminished.

His vital organs—including his heart, lungs, and brain—are now at imminent risk of malfunction.

This danger has been compounded by prolonged sleep deprivation, continuous confinement in poorly ventilated conditions, and the denial of medication prescribed for his medical conditions. Family members have observed severe physical deterioration, including sunken eyes, extreme weakness, frailty, and visible physical decline.

He is further exposed to severe electrolyte imbalances and critical nutrient depletion. The complete cessation of food intake can rapidly produce dangerous disturbances in potassium, sodium, magnesium, and other essential minerals necessary for normal cardiac and neurological function.

Medical professionals have warned that these conditions place him at immediate risk of fatal cardiac arrhythmias, heart attack, stroke, acute kidney injury, and complete renal failure. Your Excellency, I write these words with a mother’s fear and a wife’s anguish.

I do not ask for special treatment.

I do not ask for immunity.

I do not ask that the law be set aside.

If my husband is alleged to have committed an offence, let him face due process before a court of law. Let the justice system determine his fate. If necessary, let him be incarcerated for the rest of his life.

But I beg of you, do not allow him to die in this manner.

No Sri Lankan citizen, irrespective of position, rank, political belief, or allegation against him, should be physically and psychologically broken to the point where death appears to him as the only remaining escape.

The Constitution, our laws, and the values of our nation place a sacred duty upon the State to preserve life and human dignity. My husband remains in the custody of the State. His safety, wellbeing, and survival are therefore matters for which the State bears ultimate responsibility. During my most recent visit, my husband informed me that the following measures would persuade him to discontinue his Fast Unto Death:

A) A formal undertaking by the Government regarding the abolition or meaningful amendment of the Prevention of Terrorism Act to strengthen safeguards and protections for suspects.

B) His transfer from CID detention to prison custody.

C)The transfer of the investigation to another arm of the Police Department over which the present Director of the CID exercises no command or control, as he genuinely believes that the investigation is being driven by a personal vendetta against him.

Your Excellency, I respectfully urge you to consider these matters not through the lens of politics, but through the lens of humanity.

I fear that every passing day may be my husband’s last. I fear that my children may lose their father whilst he remains in the custody of the State.

I fear that history may one day record that a man who served his country for decades was permitted to die not by judicial sentence, but through physical and psychological deterioration while awaiting justice.

As his wife, I am left with no greater authority than my voice and no greater weapon than my tears.

I therefore humbly and earnestly appeal to Your Excellency to intervene immediately, cancel the existing detention order, and ensure that my husband receives the urgent medical care, protection, and humane treatment that every human being is entitled to receive.

I make this appeal in the name of justice, compassion, and the sanctity of human life. Yours faithfully,