President’s ex- Chief of Staff indicted for taking Rs. 20 m bribe

Tuesday, 9 July 2019 00:54 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Trial fixed for 22 July by Special High Court, suspects granted bail but passports impounded

By T. Farook Thajudeen

President Maithripala Sirisena’s former Chief of Staff and former Head of the State Timber Corporation were yesterday indicted by the Special High Court Trial-at-Bar for taking a bribe of Rs. 20 million from an Indian investor.

President Maithripala Sirisena

The two accused, President’s former Chief of Staff I.H.K Mahanama and former State Timber Corporation Chairman P. Dissanayake were indicted by the Commission to Investigate into Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) for accepting a bribe of Rs. 20 million and for soliciting Rs. 540 million from the Indian investor who was interested in acquiring the Kantale Sugar Factory under an agreement with the Board of Investment (BOI).

The indictments were served to the two accused and they were released on a cash bail of Rs. 500,000 with three sureties for Rs. 1 million on each surety by the three Special High Court Trial-at-Bar Judges Sampath Abeykoon, Sampath Wijeratna and Champa Janaki Rajaratna.

Their passports were impounded and they were restrained from foreign travel.

The trial was fixed for 22 July by the Special High Court.

CIABOC officials arrested I.H.K. Mahanama and P. Dissanayake while accepting the bribe from the investor for the transfer of the sugar factory land at a car park of a hotel in Colombo. They were remanded after being produced before court and later released on bail by the Colombo Chief Magistrate.

Subsequent to the incident the President had suspended them from their duties and the Commission was instructed to enforce the law against the two without any obstruction.

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