Sugeeshwara Bandara, a former private secretary to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has been admitted to the prison hospital after his condition deteriorated in remand custody.
He was transferred on Friday afternoon, both Daily Mirror and Hiru News reported. Daily Mirror said a wound on his leg had worsened and that his condition required medical attention.
Hiru News gave a more specific account, reporting that a blood vessel in his leg burst as a result of a varicose veins condition, and that he had been held at the New Magazine Prison before the transfer. Hiru identified him as the leader of the Nava Janatha Peramuna.
Court declined to order treatment
Bandara’s lawyers had earlier filed a motion before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court seeking an order directing the Commissioner General of Prisons to refer him for urgent medical treatment, Hiru News reported.
Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena rejected that request, telling the court he had no legal authority to issue direct orders on the internal administration or the health facilities provided to a remand prisoner. The Magistrate directed that the request be made instead to the Commissioner General of Prisons.
Bandara’s health has featured repeatedly in his case. At his last appearance he was remanded until August 25 after the court rejected a fourth bail application, in which his counsel told the court he was a heart patient with damaged arteries and was also suffering from blood poisoning.
The allegations
Bandara was arrested by the Central Crime Investigation Bureau in June over allegations that he drew two salaries under the President’s expenditure head — serving as a secretary to Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022 while also working as a Project Director at the Presidential Secretariat during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tenure. Investigators have told court that around Rs. 6.19 million was involved.
Daily Mirror described the case as an investigation into allegations that he received salaries from two state institutions simultaneously, and said inquiries are continuing. Hiru News put the sum at a substantially higher figure than the amount previously placed before court; LankaNewz has not been able to reconcile the two and has kept to the figure given in court filings.
