Avant Garde Chairman Senadhipathi remanded until 8 Nov.

• CID arrests Senadhipathi upon arrival from Singapore
• Faces charges of operating illegal armoury 

By T. Farook Thajudeen

Upon returning to Sri Lanka from Singapore, Avant Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi was arrested and remanded until 8 November, the date on which he will be produced in the Colombo High Court for the special trial-at-bar into the Avant Garde illegal armoury case.

The three trial-at-bar judges President Dhammika Ganepola, Manjula Thilakaratna and Adithiya Patabandige delivered this order upon considering the submissions of the petitioners’ counsel and the Deputy Solicitor General on behalf of the Attorney General.

The matter was taken up for inquiry on a motion filed in Court to seek bail for Senadhipathi, who is one of the accused in the Avant Garde arms-trafficking case.

Senior Counsel Ajith Pathirana, making submissions on behalf of Senadhipathi, told Court that his client had flown to Singapore for medical treatment. He said Senadhipathi had undergone a surgery there and had been advised to undergo a further surgery. 

The Counsel said that if his client underwent the second surgery, he would have been forced to stay in Singapore for a further two months. He asserted that due to this, his client had come to Court to face the trial in good faith.

He said that since the Avant Garde case was to be taken up for trial on 8 November, his client had decided to come to Court to surrender and seek bail.

He claimed that Senadhipathi went to Singapore with the intention of receiving treatment for his ailment and not to abscond. 

Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris, objecting to the granting of bail to the accused, contended that Senadhipathi had gone to Singapore in order to evade arrest and had come to Court after the other accused in the case were granted bail.

Pieris argued that Court should not grant him bail since he had already made a mockery of proceedings by producing false documents

Attorney General Dappula de Livera PC had filed indictments in the Avant-Garde arms trafficking case on 7,573 counts at the Colombo High Court trial-at-bar against 13 accused, including the Rakna Lanka Company, retired Major General Palitha Fernando, retired Major General Karunaratne Egodawele, retired Air Vice Marshal P.D. Premachandra, Rakna Lanka Chairman Victor Samaraweera, Don Albert Tillekaratne, Avant Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi, retired Navy Commodore Vishvajith Nandana Diyabalanage, Nilupul de Costa, MV Avant Garde Captain Ukrainian national Gennadiy Gavrylov, former Additional Defence Secretary Saman Dissanayake and former Senior Additional Defence Secretary Damayanthi Jayaratne.