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Ex president's secretary Lalith Weeratunge and Pelpita given bail despite their Rs. 600 million fraud ! – AG’s foul play

(Lanka-e-News -07.Oct.2015, 11.00PM) Lalith Weeratunge the ex secretary to the former president and Anusha Pilapita , the former Director General of the SLT regulatory commission who were charged with misusing Rs. 600 millon of public funds were enlarged on strict and harsh bail conditions, by Colombo High court judge Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena because  the attorney general raised no objections.

The AG  filed action against the two accused based on charges following the investigations conducted by the FCID that the accused during the run up to the last Presidential elections , distributed Sil cloths  to temples Island wide misusing public funds to the tune of Rs. 600 million on behalf of the presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapkase at that time. There is surprisingly  no record of the  quantity  of Sil cloths that were distributed , when and  to whom.

After the charge sheets were served on the two accused pleaded   they are not guilty.

The high court judge said, as the case has been filed against the accused under the public property Act, the accused can be held in remand custody until the case is concluded.

Answering questions posed by the judge , the state counsel said, so far during investigations , the accused had not exerted undue pressures on the witnesses . The state counsel also said , the AG’s department does not harbor any fear regarding  the accused and they will not  evade courts.

The judge after weighing the pros and cons decided to release the two accused on bail, while postponing the case until 9 th of November. Meanwhile a human rights  lawyer Namal Rajapakse alleged that the AG had granted special concessins to the accused Lalith Weeratunge when filing the case.

‘The suspects  charged under the public property Act, must first be arrested by the police and produced before the magistrate court. That is the right and  routine procedure.In this instance however, the AG and the police instead of following the true procdeure , had averted the arrest of Lalith Weeratunge by filing action directly  in the high court. The AG has resorted to this method in order to provide relief to Lalith Weeratunge’, lawyer Namal Rajapakse disclosed.
 
The State counsel citing grounds in the high court said , in these cases under the public  property Act, the AG is empowered to file action in the high court at once.

The masses that were responsible for the rainbow revolution and brought about the change on 8 th January against criminals , the corrupt  and crooks are of the view that , by offering relief packages to the corrupt crooks such as these accused aforementioned who misused colossal amount of public funds, the government of good governance is creating a bad precedent and setting a bad example, for the corrupt are being inspired  to indulge in their criminal activities with greater zest and zeal.

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by     (2015-10-07 19:13:30)

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