Former CEO of Deyata Kirula seeks anticipatory bail

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda

The CEO of Deyata Kirula National Exhibition 2013 yesterday filed an anticipatory bail application in Court to pre-empt the possibility of her arrest over charges levelled by Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

In her petition, Kanthi Gunawardana, the Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology, cited the OIC of Criminal Investigations Department as respondent.

Filing a B report in Court on 27 March, the CID informed Court that they had begun an investigation against the Deyata Kirula National Exhibition 2013 Secretarial Office CEO for allegedly cheating and misappropriating Rs. 39 million by not following the proper tender procedure.

The CID further told Court that a complaint had been made in this regard by Telecommunication and Information Technology Ministry Secretary H.M. Gunasekara on 21 February regarding the alleged misappropriation valued at Rs. 39 million.

Filing the anticipatory bail application on behalf of the petitioner, President’s Counsel Shanaka Ranasinghe denied all the allegations levelled against his client and maintained that all transactions done by his client were duly accounted and thereby she had not commit any offence.    

Filing the anticipatory bail application, the petitioner stated that she was still serving at the Ministry of Public Administration and she had done all transactions in accordance with the State monetary regulations. She further maintained that there was no reason to abscond Court. Counsel Shanaka Ranasinghe, PC, Nishada Gamage and Asha Ranasinghe under the instructions of Nisansala Wijesinghe appeared fort the petitioner.

In this case, the complainant alleged that the contract relating to the construction of temporary toilets had been given to a private company without the approval of the PTEC by the CEO of the Deyata Kirula Exhibition 2013 and an additional payment of Rs. 1.7 million had been made to the contractor.

He further alleged that the suspect had made another payment amounting to Rs. 12 million for the construction of a reading room at the Deyata Kirula Exhibition premises, followed by approving another payment of Rs. 11 million for a contractor to construct a canteen and a further payment of Rs. 255,000 for flower decorations at the site.