Lawyer sentenced to three years RI for cheating businessman

By T. Farook Thajiudeen

An attorney from Colombo was sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 500,000 for cheating a businessman out of Australian $ I8,500 on the pretext of building a hotel in Kurunegala.

High Court Judge R. Gurusinghe also imposed an additional nine-month prison sentence in lieu of the payment of the fine. He was also ordered to pay an extra payment of Rs. 9 million as compensation or to undergo an 18-month imprisonment.

The convict, Attorney-at-Law Manoj Bimsara Dissanayake, was accused of having deceived businessman Nihal Pallage Nanayakkara for Australian $ 18,500, promising to build a hotel in Kurunegala.

During the trial Senior State Counsel Janaka Bandara stated that the behaviour of the accused from the very inception of the entire episode had proven that the accused had dealt with the complainant in a deceitful manner.