Deyata Kirula fraud’s prime suspect at large, says CID

Thursday, 25 April 2013 01:17 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda

The prime suspect wanted in connection with the alleged fraud amounting to Rs.39 million at the Deyata Kirula National Exhibition 2013 was unable to be arrested as she was evading police, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) informed Court on Wednesday.



Filing a further investigation report in connection with the incident, the CID told the Colombo Fort Magistrate that they were unable to arrest the main suspect Kanthi Gunawardana the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Deyata Kirula National Exhibition 2013, since she was evading police after being in hiding.

However, President’s Counsel Shanaka Ranasinghe appearing for Gunawardana informed Court last Monday (22 April) that she was still serving at the Ministry of Public Administration and no reason for her to evade police.   

Meanwhile, an owner of a private construction company who had allegedly involved in misappropriating public funds while constructing 230 temporary toilets at the Deyata Kirula site was ordered to be further remanded till 7 May by Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya. The CID alleged that a contract relating to the construction of temporary toilets had been given to the suspect M. M. Sarath Chandra Ekanayake without the approval of the Procurement and Technical Evaluation Committee (PTEC) by the CEO of the Deyata Kirula National Exhibition 2013. The CID alleged that the suspect M. M. Sarath Chandra Ekanayake had received money from this unlawful transaction and thereby he had committed an offence which comes under the Public Property Act.

On 4 April, the Deyata Kirula National Exhibition 2013 CEO Kanthi Gunawardana filed an anticipatory bail application in Court to pre-empt the possibility of her arrest over charges levelled by the CID. Accordingly, she was ordered to appear before CID on 23 April.

In her petition, Gunawardana denied all the allegations levelled against her and maintained that all transactions done by her were duly accounted for and, therefore, she had not committed any offence. She further said that she had carried out all transactions in accordance with state monetary regulations.

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 proper tender procedures.

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

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 thereby made an additional payment of Rs.1.7 million to the contractor.

The complainant further alleged that the suspect had made other payments amounting to Rs.12 million, Rs.11 million and Rs.255,000 for a reading room, a canteen and for flower decorations respectively at the Deyata Kirula Exhibition site.

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