The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to arrest former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa and several others over the alleged misuse of Rs. 7.8 million from the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) during the 2014 Uva Provincial Council election campaign, NewsFirst and Ada Derana reported.
Magistrate Pasan Amarasena issued the order after the CID informed the court through a motion that the suspects would be named under the Offences Against Public Property Act on the advice of the Attorney General.
Alongside Rajapaksa, those named include former SLTPB Chairman Bhashwara Gunaratne and former Managing Director Rumy Jauffer, among others, Ada Derana said. The CID told the court that attempts to arrest the suspects at their known residences had failed because they were not present at those locations.
The Magistrate also imposed a foreign travel ban on the suspects and directed that the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration be notified, Newswire reported.
According to the CID, approximately 12,000 T-shirts were printed in 2014 under the guise of tourism promotion. Investigators told the court the printed material carried political messaging — a portrait of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on one side and the name of a political party on the other — and were distributed at a political programme in the Monaragala District.
The order opens a third active criminal track against Basil Rajapaksa within a week. The Matara Magistrate’s Court issued an arrest warrant on May 22 over the Brown Hill land purchase allegedly made with misappropriated funds, and a separate Colombo case imposed a foreign travel ban on May 23 in an air-ticket deception matter. The SLTPB case adds the first state-property-act prosecution to that sequence, with the AG’s advice anchoring the charges.
Update — June 17: Fresh arrest order on recall; co-accused MD released on bail
Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasena on Wednesday directed the Illegal Assets Unit of the CID to arrest Rajapaksa and produce him before court when the case was recalled, Newswire reported. The CID confirmed that charges had been filed under the Public Property Act. During proceedings, President’s Counsel Kalinga Indatissa, appearing for the third suspect, informed the court that his client was willing to make a confidential statement under Section 127 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The magistrate also ordered the release of former SLTPB Managing Director Rumi Jaufer, who had been in remand custody, on two personal bails of Rs. 1 million each, while imposing a foreign travel ban. The court further inquired whether the Bureau’s Financial Director, named in the “B Report”, would also be listed as a suspect; the CID responded that advice from the Attorney General was still pending. The case is scheduled to be recalled on October 14.
Source: Court orders arrest of former minister Basil Rajapaksa — Newswire, June 17.
