The money laundering case against MP Namal Rajapaksa and three others over an alleged Rs. 15 million investment in NR Consultancy has been put off to 11 February, Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama ordered on Thursday.

The Criminal Investigation Department’s Financial Crimes Division told the court that the material from its investigation has been referred to the Attorney General, and asked for a further date pending his advice, Hiru News reported at 10.32 a.m.

Having considered the submissions, the Magistrate refixed the case for 11 February and directed investigators to report the progress of the investigation to court on that date.

Rajapaksa was not ordered to be produced in court on Thursday. The other suspects appeared. President’s Counsel Sampath Mendis appeared for the accused.

This is a third, separate case — not the Airbus or Krrish matter

Rajapaksa is before three different courts on three different allegations with three different figures, and they are easily confused.

The discriminator for this case is the company name and the Rs. 15 million figure, not Rajapaksa’s name.

The case has been open since 2015

The investigation began on a complaint made to the Financial Crimes Division on 28 July 2015 by Wasantha Samarasinghe, convener of the Anti-Corruption Voice, alleging criminal misappropriation of Rs. 15 million and money laundering.

The charges name Rajapaksa alongside Nithya Senani Samaranayake, Sujani Bogollagama and Sudarshana Bandara Ganegoda, who this desk has previously reported served as directors of NR Consultancy (Pvt) Ltd. The prosecution alleges that Rajapaksa, while a Member of Parliament, committed an offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by investing Rs. 15 million said to have been earned by unlawful means in the company.

When the case was last called on 30 July, investigators told the court the Attorney General’s instructions had still not been received and asked for a further date; the Magistrate fixed 29 October. Thursday’s hearing produced the same answer and the same outcome — another adjournment pending the same advice.

The new date is more than eleven years after the original complaint, and pushes the file into a twelfth year without a charging decision.

Not reported

Neither filing says when the CID referred the file to the Attorney General, why the advice has not been given, or whether any timeframe has been set for it. Neither sets out the three co-accused’s positions, and neither gives any indication whether the Attorney General is likely to indict or to discontinue.

Rajapaksa has consistently denied wrongdoing and has argued that legal action against opposition figures is politically motivated; government members reject that, saying investigations are pursued independently. None of the allegations has been proven.

Update, 29 October: This article was published as a single-source report, recording that no other verified newsroom had filed on the hearing. That was accurate at the time of writing. NewsFirst filed at 12.11 p.m. and is now cited above, lifting this story to two independent newsrooms.

NewsFirst confirms the Rs. 15 million figure, NR Consultancy, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act charge, Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama, the three co-accused and the 11 February date. It also closes one of the gaps flagged here: Rajapaksa remains in remand custody in connection with other proceedings and was not produced in open court because no order required his production in this particular case — so his absence was a matter of no order having been made, not an excusal.

One difference worth recording: Hiru places the referral to the Attorney General with the CID’s Financial Crimes Division, while NewsFirst attributes it to the CID without naming the division. NewsFirst also spells two co-accused “Sujani Bogalagama” and “Sudarshana Ganegoda”; this article keeps the longer forms used across the archive. Ada Derana has returned an HTTP 403 to this desk for some 49 consecutive days and could not be consulted.