Legal obstacles are preventing the extradition of former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, and authorities are examining other legal routes to bring him back to Sri Lanka, Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala has said.
Mahendran is a Singapore citizen and lives there, and Singapore’s law does not permit one of its own citizens to be handed over to Sri Lanka, the minister said in remarks reported by Hiru News, which attributed them to a national newspaper published on Friday.
There are various approaches open in such situations, Wijepala said, and steps are being taken accordingly. He added that the bond fraud case is being heard and that information continues to emerge through the proceedings.
The name change is not new
Hiru’s report also states that information received by the Criminal Investigation Department shows Mahendran legally changed his name to “Harjan Alexander”, and that he did so around the time the CID moved for an Interpol red notice.
That has been on the court record for six years. The Attorney General’s Department informed the Special High Court trial-at-bar on 16 June 2020 that Interpol had reported the first defendant had legally changed his name to Harjan Alexander, Ada Derana reported at the time. Deputy Solicitor General Parinda Ranasinghe told the court that when the Attorney General asked whether the extradition papers needed to be amended to match, Singapore’s Attorney-General’s Chambers replied that no amendment was required.
The name change is therefore background to Friday’s statement rather than a new disclosure, and on the 2020 account it was not itself an obstacle to the extradition request.
Where the case stands
Mahendran is the first defendant in the prosecution over the 2016 Central Bank bond issuances. The Supreme Court in June cleared the way for Public Property Act charges to be maintained against him, former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake and Perpetual Treasuries Limited, setting aside a 2021 trial-at-bar ruling that had stalled the case at the indictment stage. The Attorney General’s Department said a new trial-at-bar would be appointed to recommence proceedings.
No other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had published its own report of the minister’s remarks as of Friday afternoon, and the reported comments do not identify which alternative legal routes are being considered, or whether any fresh request has been made to Singapore.
