Colombo Fort Chief Magistrate Pasan Amarasena on Tuesday formally summoned President’s Counsel Rienzie Arsekularatne and his junior counsel Attorney Udara Muhandiramge to give evidence in the magisterial inquest into the death of former SriLankan Airlines chief executive Kapila Chandrasena, ordering them to appear on June 5 as the 19th and 20th witnesses in the case.
The order delivers the ruling the bench had reserved on May 29, when both counsel appeared voluntarily and Bar Association of Sri Lanka President Rajeev Amarasuriya intervened under Section 370(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure to raise concerns about advisory confidentiality between lawyer and client.
The Magistrate directed that, under Section 126 of the Evidence Ordinance and Supreme Court Law No. 31, any advice or communications given to the late Chandrasena must not be disclosed.
The Colombo Crimes Division told the court that arrangements are being made through the Ministry of Justice to send Chandrasena’s mobile phone to Apple Inc. in the United States via the Federal Bureau of Investigation for forensic examination — extending an earlier FBI handover request raised on inquest day five. The court also granted permission to send a green belt recovered from Chandrasena’s residence to the Government Analyst for testing, adding to the physical-evidence trail that began with the belt seized by CCD on May 11.
The CCD has previously told the court that on the evening of May 7 — after Chandrasena’s bail was revoked and a fresh arrest warrant issued — a group reportedly visited the residence of former cricketer Aravinda de Silva before proceeding to PC Arsekularatne’s official residence for discussions, prompting the bench to seek the lawyers’ testimony.
