The Colombo High Court was told on Thursday that Yoshitha Rajapaksa received a total of Rs. 5,150,626 in salaries and allowances across ten years of service in the Sri Lanka Navy, the Daily Mirror reported.

The evidence was led in the money laundering trial of the son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, before High Court Judge Udesh Ranatunga, with Senior State Counsel Oswald Perera questioning the witnesses.

Navy officer Nuwan Thushara gave the Rs. 5,150,626 total for the period 14 February 2006 to 28 February 2016. A second Navy witness, Dhammika Priyadarshana Wickramaarachchi, said Yoshitha Kanishka Rajapaksa served as a Lieutenant across those dates, when his service was terminated, and put his monthly salary at Rs. 16,390 — Rs. 16,500 including allowances, less a deduction of Rs. 110. A third witness said the gross pay of Navy officers comprises basic salary and allowances.

Why the prosecution is establishing his pay

The figure is small set against the case it is being led in.

The Attorney General filed three charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act alleging that over Rs. 59 million believed to have been illegally earned was deposited into three fixed-deposit accounts at private banks between March 2009 and December 2013, as recorded when Yoshitha pleaded not guilty and the trial opened in May.

That deposit window falls entirely inside his Navy service. His documented earnings for the whole decade are roughly a twelfth of the sum the indictment places in those accounts over four and a half years of it.

The arithmetic inside the pay figure is worth stating too. Rs. 16,390 a month across 120 months comes to about Rs. 1.97 million. The court was given a total of Rs. 5.15 million, so allowances — not basic salary — account for the majority of it. Pay scales change across a decade and the court was given a single monthly figure, so this is an indication of the split rather than a precise one.

A third Navy witness, Devinda Udayakumara, said Yoshitha had filed declarations of assets and liabilities with the Navy for the period 31 March 2009 to 31 March 2015 — a span that brackets the March 2009 to December 2013 deposit window named in the indictment.

The bank accounts and an objection

Kanishka Gamini, a junior executive officer of the National Savings Bank, testified about two accounts. A fixed deposit was opened on 10 November 2003 with an initial deposit of Rs. 72,470.03, and the balance including interest later rose to Rs. 489,411.70. That account predates his Navy service by more than two years.

On the savings account, the witness said no withdrawals were made until 2016, although deposits had been credited from January 2007 onwards. The first withdrawal was on 2 March 2016 — two days after his service was terminated on 28 February 2016. Neither the witness nor the filing draws any connection between the two dates.

President’s Counsel Sampath Mendis, for the accused, objected to the prosecution marking a document put to this witness, arguing it had neither been examined during the investigation nor filed with the indictment.

Evidence was also led on an older transaction: Wasantha Karannagoda, the former Navy Commander, wrote to the Defence Minister on 18 May 2004 seeking financial assistance for Yoshitha to attend a young officers’ training programme in the United Kingdom, requesting £4,174.80 for food and accommodation and Rs. 20,362 in course fees.

Finally, Senarath Bandara, a court clerk appearing for the Registrar of the Nugegoda District Court, testified to an order made on 15 March 2017 by then District Judge Sahan Mapa concerning the management of Daisy Forrest’s estate, which named the third defendant in that case as administrator. Forrest, Yoshitha’s grandmother, was released from this case on medical grounds before the trial began.

Not reported

The filing does not say whether the Rs. 5.15 million total is gross or net of the deductions mentioned, nor whether it includes the UK training costs sought in 2004 or any other non-salary payment.

It does not say what post Karannagoda held in May 2004 — he is described by his later rank — or whether the requested assistance was granted. It does not report how the two National Savings Bank accounts relate to the three private-bank fixed deposits named in the indictment, or whether the prosecution says they do.

The court’s ruling on Mendis’s objection is not reported, nor is the next trial date. This account rests on a single verified newsroom: no report of Thursday’s proceedings appeared on NewsFirst, Hiru News or EconomyNext at the time of writing, and Ada Derana has been unreachable from this desk for twenty-seven consecutive days.

Sources: Daily Mirror.