News
Ex-Maldivian minister arrested over rape of underage Lankan girl

By Norman Palihawadane
A former Maldivian Minister is among 32 suspects arrested over the exploitation and rape of an underage Sri Lankan teen.
Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said that the ex-Maldivian Minister had reached the girl via the Internet. He said that a hotel manager had also been arrested in connection with the incident.
The mother of the child, the Deputy Chairman of the Mihintale Pradeshiya Sabha and a captain of a ship are among the other suspects arrested over the sex scam.
The suspects now in custody also include the main accused.
A three-wheel driver, a car driver and the suspect involved in designing the website used to sell the child for sex, were also arrested earlier.
The 15-year-old girl had been sold for sex via the internet to multiple customers for sums ranging from Rs. 10,000, to Rs. 30,000 over a period of three months. She had been first marketed as a virgin.
The Police Spokesman said that another 12 suspects had also been identified and are to be arrested.
Preliminary investigations had revealed that the suspect had rented an apartment in Mount Lavinia to conduct his operations.
The suspect, who is reported to have sold the girl to several people on a daily basis, is said to have bought the girl from her mother, who is a resident of Delgoda.
Later in the evening four of the suspects including the Maldives’ former state minister of finance Mohamed Ashmalee (38) were produced before Colombo Additional Magistrate Lochani Abeywickrama and were ordered to be remanded till July 16. Others were a cashier of a Colombo-based hotel Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Malinga, owner of the Lankaads.com Ranasinghe Arachchige Duminda Sampath Perera of Panadura and Finance Manager of the website Makewelagedara Dhanuka Kaushalya of Bandaragama.
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Accepting deposits for Local Authorities Election concludes

Accepting deposits from political parties and independent groups who intend to contest the forthcoming Local Authorities Election ended at 12noon today [19].
Deposits were accepted at respective District Secretariats from 3rd March 2025.
The Elections Commission has announced that the deadline for the accepting of nominations for the LA poll is set to conclude at 12:00 noon tomorrow (20).
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Former IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon has appeared before the Matara Magistrate’s Court

It has been reported that the former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon has appeared before the Matara Magistrate’s Court this morning (19),
The former IGP had been evading arrest after the Matara Magistrate’s court had ordered his arrest regarding a shooting incident that took place in front of the W15 Hotel Pelena, Weligama, Matara, in 2023.
News
Ex-Minister ordered to pay loan interest in arrears for 24 yrs

The government has begun recovering funds obtained by former Lands and Land Development, Environment and Wildlife Resources Minister SM Chandrasena for the Janatha Lanka Chilli Marketing Limited (JLCML), which he headed, Parliament was informed yesterday.
Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation Minister Namal Karunaratne said that as the Chairman of JLCML, Chandrasena had obtained a loan of Rs. 1,275,000 from the Mihintale Govijana Seva Bank in 2001.
The principal of the loan had not been repaid until the end of last year. “After we came to power, we demanded that the loan be settled. Then, we discovered that the interest on the loan had not been paid for the past 24 years, and attempts had been made to have the loan written off. We stopped that and are now in the process of recovering the interest of Rs. 1,975,233 on the loan,” Karunaratne said.
Karunaratne added that JLCML was registered as a company with the Registrar of Companies on March 21, 2001. As Chairman of the company, Chandrasena requested a loan of Rs. 10 million on April 19, 2001, for the purpose of purchasing chillies from farmers in 12 farmer colonies in the Mihintale Agrarian Service area.
The request was approved by the Mihintale Agrarian Service Committee on the same day and referred to the Anuradhapura District Agrarian Operations Committee, which approved it on April 23, 2001. However, the Agriculture Development Commissioner General recommended that a loan of Rs. 1.2 million would suffice for this purpose. JLCML took the loan and failed to repay it until the end of last year. When the matter was raised, the principal was paid, and we are now in the process of recovering the interest that was not paid for the past 24 years,” Karunaratne added.
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