Nugegoda Additional Magistrate Sanjaya Wijesinghe has postponed sentencing to 28 October after a defendant pleaded guilty to all four charges in a case over dishonoured cheques worth more than Rs. 10 million, Hiru News reported.
The case was filed before the Nugegoda Magistrate’s Court by the Criminal Investigation Department, which accused Prasad Deshapriya of issuing cheques that were subsequently dishonoured in exchange for goods valued at over Rs. 10 million, obtained from a businessman in a commercial transaction.
Deshapriya had already admitted guilt to two counts at an earlier hearing. When the matter was taken up on Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to the remaining two amended charges, completing his admission on all four.
The magistrate scheduled sentencing for 28 October and directed the CID to report any prior criminal record of the accused to the court before that date — a standard step, since previous convictions bear on the sentence imposed.
What is not reported
Hiru does not name the complainant businessman, describe the goods involved, state how many cheques were issued or over what period, or say what the two amended charges were changed from. It also does not indicate whether any restitution has been made, which commonly affects sentencing in cheque-fraud matters.
One caution on the figures: Hiru’s own URL for the report describes the case as a “multi-million dollar cheque fraud.” At prevailing exchange rates, Rs. 10 million is roughly USD 33,000 — the sum is in rupees, not dollars, and the headline figure of the case is the one stated in the report itself.
