The Supreme Court has affirmed a five-year rigorous imprisonment sentence imposed on a former Grama Niladhari convicted of taking a Rs. 25,000 bribe to expedite housing assistance for a person with disabilities.
The order was made on Friday (25) by a bench comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justice Achala Wengappuli, Hiru News reported.
The court refused leave to proceed with a special appeal application filed by the convicted officer, who had sought acquittal and discharge from the sentence. The effect is that the Colombo High Court’s sentence stands.
The case
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) filed the case in the Colombo High Court in 2014.
The charges related to conduct in 2013, when the officer — who served in the Kudawa division in Ratnapura — was alleged to have solicited a bribe of Rs. 100,000 and accepted Rs. 25,000 to expedite the provision of housing aid for a person with disabilities.
The two figures are consistent: the larger sum was the amount demanded, the smaller the amount actually received.
A thirteen-year path
The timeline is the notable feature of the case. The offence dates from 2013, the indictment from 2014, and the final appellate order from 2026 — roughly 13 years from conduct to exhaustion of appeals for a case involving a five-figure sum.
Grama Niladhari officers are the lowest tier of Sri Lanka’s civil administration, certifying residence, income and eligibility documents that citizens need to access state benefits. That gatekeeping role is what makes the post a recurring subject of bribery prosecutions.
Not reported
Hiru News does not name the convicted officer, state when the High Court conviction and sentence were handed down, say whether the officer has been serving the sentence during the appeal, or give the case number. No other verified newsroom had published an account of the order at the time of writing.
