Order on the preliminary objections in HiCorp case on Jan 20

Colombo High Court Judge yesterday reserved the order on the preliminary objections taken by the defence in the Hi Corp case against former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka claiming that the material in the indictment in the High Court was similar to that in the second court martial in which Sarath Fonseka was sentenced thus no action could be instituted twice against   an accused on the same charges.

At the onset of the case Defence Counsel Saliya Pieris marked the relevant sections from the proceedings of the second court martial by the Court Interpreter Mudliyar S.A.M. Nafli to prove his stand point.

Following the marking of the evidence by the defence, State Counsel Damith Totawatte too marked certain sections from the evidence of the second court martial to prove that the two cases were not on the same charges.  

Subsequently High Court Judge Sunil Rajapaksa reserved his order on the objection for 20 January.

He also said that if necessary he would direct the parties to make written submissions.

The Attorney General indicted former Army Commander’s son – in – law Dhanuna Thilakaratne, Wellinton DeHoedt and Sarath Fonseka for defrauding public funds in the   name of the locally registered HiCorp Private Company by forwarding forged documents to the Sri Lanka Army fraudulently acting as an agent for British Borneo Defence Company in Australia and that the funds obtained had been deposited in an account at the Bank of America under the name of Dhanuna Tilakaratne.

(FT)