The Court of Appeal on Thursday dismissed a revision petition filed by Yoshitha Rajapaksa seeking a ruling that the conspiracy charge in his money laundering case cannot be maintained.
A bench comprising Justices Amal Ranaraja and Dr. Sumudu Premachandra delivered the ruling, allowing the underlying case at the Colombo High Court to proceed with all charges intact.
The Attorney General has filed the case against Yoshitha, the son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Prosecutors allege he deposited over Rs. 59 million of unverifiable origin into three private fixed deposit accounts between March 31, 2009, and December 12, 2013.
The revision petition had asked the appeals bench to strike out the conspiracy count, an argument that had been raised in earlier stages of the money laundering case. Yoshitha’s co-accused, Daisy Forrest, was earlier discharged from the case, prompting defence arguments that the conspiracy charge could not stand against a single accused.
The Court of Appeal ruling comes on the same day the Bribery Commission arrested former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda in connection with a separate investigation into Yoshitha’s recruitment into the Sri Lanka Navy. The two cases proceed on independent tracks: the appeal court matter concerns the alleged movement of unaccounted funds, while the CIABOC probe focuses on his enlistment as an executive officer and subsequent state-funded training at the Britannia Royal Naval College in the United Kingdom.
Yoshitha was arrested by CIABOC on June 17 over the naval appointment case and was later released on three personal bails of Rs. 500,000 each.
