Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena has appointed a special permanent three-member High Court Trial-at-Bar to hear the Greek bond case against former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, NewsFirst reported on Sunday.
The decision comes at the request of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), which moved for a permanent bench after Cabraal breached the conditions of his December 2025 conditional release. High Court Justices Manoj Thalgodapitiya, Udesh Ranatunga and Buddhika Sri Ragala have been named to the Trial-at-Bar.
Cabraal was conditionally released by the Colombo High Court at the end of last year on the requirement that he credit Rs. 1.84 billion — the loss attributed to the disputed Greek bond purchases — back to the Central Bank within three months. The deadline lapsed on March 10, 2026 without the funds being settled, prompting CIABOC to seek the new bench.
Three other defendants — former Deputy Governor Dharmasiri Deerasinghe and Assistant Governors Don Wasantha Ananda Silva and M.A. Karunaratne — were unconditionally released as part of the December 2025 order and are not affected by the new proceedings.
The case stems from the Central Bank’s decision to invest in Greek government bonds while Greece was in the depths of its sovereign debt crisis. CIABOC has alleged that the investment, taken despite the risks, generated losses exceeding Rs. 1.84 billion to the state.
The Trial-at-Bar appointment is the first formal court escalation against Cabraal since his conditional release and the most significant accountability action in the legacy CBSL portfolio in 2026. The case will now proceed before a permanent three-judge High Court bench rather than the standard single-judge process. On the same day, the Chief Justice also appointed a Trial-at-Bar for the Ekneligoda disappearance case, underscoring the pace of high-profile accountability proceedings in May 2026.
Source: NewsFirst.
