The Supreme Court has imposed a travel ban on former health minister Keheliya Rambukwella and three other respondents who failed to pay in full the compensation it ordered them to pay in the substandard drug importation case. The same order released the four on bond.
The court acted on a contempt motion filed by Transparency International Sri Lanka, which alleged that the respondents had shown contempt by not paying the compensation as directed. A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena issued the order, Hiru News reported at 11.25 a.m. on Monday.
The shortfall is stated precisely
The figure that drives the order comes from Rambukwella’s own lawyer. Of the Rs 75 million the court ordered him to pay, counsel told the court that Rs 20 million has been paid — leaving Rs 55 million, or roughly three-quarters of the sum, outstanding.
That is the only respondent-level figure in the filing. The amounts ordered against the others, and how much each has paid, are not reported.
What the original ruling found
The Supreme Court had earlier held that the process of importing substandard drugs under the previous government violated fundamental rights. In March it named five respondents, Rambukwella among them, and ordered them to pay compensation.
Monday’s order therefore covers four of those five. The filing names only two of the four — Rambukwella and former health ministry secretary Janaka Chandragupta — and does not say what became of the fifth respondent, or whether that person had paid in full.
Two orders that pull in opposite directions
The bench did two things at once: it restricted the four from travelling abroad and it released them on bond. Read together, these are the standard components of a court keeping a person within its reach without detaining them — the bond secures attendance, the travel ban removes the option of leaving. The filing does not give the bond amount or the conditions attached.
Context
Rambukwella has been the central figure in the substandard-drugs affair through its criminal track as well as this fundamental-rights case. He was arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption in August and later released on bail. A separate case concerning expired rabies vaccines and the National Medicines Regulatory Authority has also been before the courts.
This order is distinct from those proceedings. It does not concern guilt or acquittal — the fundamental-rights violation was already determined in March. It concerns enforcement: what happens when a court orders compensation and the money does not arrive.
Not reported
The filing does not name the other two respondents subject to the travel ban, nor does it identify the fifth respondent from the March order or explain why that person is not covered. It does not give the total compensation ordered in March across all five, the deadline the court had set for payment, the bond amount, or the date to which the contempt matter stands adjourned. Whether the travel ban lapses on payment is also unstated.
Sourcing note: this report rests on a single verified newsroom. Neither the Daily Mirror’s breaking-news listing nor NewsFirst’s homepage carried the order at the time of writing — both rails were checked directly. Ada Derana, which commonly files on Supreme Court proceedings, has been unreachable from this desk for 45 days and could not be checked.
