(Lanka-e-News- 21.Sep.2017, 11.30AM) Lalith Weeratunge the ex secretary of corrupt deposed president Mahinda Rajapakse , and Anusha Pelpita the ex Director General of Telecom Regulatory Commission (TRC) who were sentenced to jail over the colossal fraud of distributing white cloth during the last presidential elections campaign to confer benefits on ex president Mahinda Rajapakse engendering a staggering loss of Rs. 600 million of public funds, were enlarged on bail yesterday (20) by Gihan Kulathunga the High Court judge , Colombo.
Each of them was released on a cash bail of Rs. 1million and three surety bails . In addition , it was ordered , one of those sureties must be a resident of the area of jurisdiction of the court. Of the other two sureties ,one of them must be a close relative of the accused while the other must be a government servant.
The foreign travel of the accused were banned , and their passports were ordered to be impounded by the court .
The accused requested bail based on the appeal filed by them in the appeal court against the 3 year jail sentence that was delivered on them by the high court. As a rule the request for bail must preliminarily be made to the court that delivered the sentence . It is only when that court refuses , an appeal is filed .
The bail was granted taking into consideration the fact that the accused had been delivered a sentence of 3 years in jail. In case bail is not granted , the time taken by court to hear the trial and conclude the case in the appeal court may exceed the 3 year period of jail sentence of the accused .
If the jail sentence was say of about 10 years duration , bail could have been refused , but as this jail term is only 3 years which is relatively small when compared with the period taken for a case to be heard and concluded in Sri Lanka , bail can be granted if there are no objections..
The Attorney General ‘s department too did not raise strong objections to granting of bail. It was evident though the pro Rajapakses tried to politicize this case , the AG’s department has not viewed this case from a political standpoint. It was very clear the crooked duo Lalith – Pelpita sought to exploit this case to gain political mileage , yet those sordid efforts and manipulations will cease to have effect from yesterday.
The appeal of the crooked duo was entrusted to a popular lawyer Romesh De Silva who is best noted as a specialist in ‘fixing’ cases by influencing the judges who hear the case . A case in point was the appeal filed by Geetha Kumarasinghe earlier on.
In the circumstances , the legal fraternity is harboring strong doubts that this appeal of the corrupt crooked duo lalith –Anusha could also have been similarly ‘fixed’ because it was heard before a panel of judges including judge Deepali Wijesundara who among the appeal court judges is best known for worst unscrupulous and squalid activities .
Machiavellian ,mendacious, deposed and presently people discarded president Mahinda Rajapakse addresses her as ‘Chooti Nangi’ . For her daughter’s wedding , Mahinda gifted a luxurious car as wedding present . That was during the period when Sarath Fonseka’s ‘white flag’ case was being heard. Deepali and Razik the judges in that case found Fonseka guilty but Justice Waruwewa reversed that decision subsequently .
Any form of gratification is a bribe . This is why judges of rectitude, honesty and integrity who respect their noble profession , their self dignity and independent judiciary steer clear of politicians , because these unscrupulous political rascals and two legged animals can exert their evil influence on them , and make the judges also one like them. That situation turns most squalid when judges accept gifts . The bigger the gift offered bigger the evil plans of the offerer to use the judge .
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by (2017-09-21 06:43:09)
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LeN - This case was entrusted to a NOTORIOUSLY popular lawyer Romesh De Silva, a.k.a "Mr. Fixer". Another dirty scoundrel is Hemantha Warnakukulasooooriya!
-- by Shiranthi Pusee on 2017-09-21