Yoshitha Rajapaksa, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, pleaded not guilty from the dock at the Colombo High Court on Thursday after the court rejected a preliminary objection by his defence and ordered the Prevention of Money Laundering Act case to proceed to trial.
High Court Judge Udesh Ranatunga ruled that the objection raised by Yoshitha’s defence — which had argued the conspiracy charge could no longer be maintained — was without basis and dismissed it, clearing the way for the indictment to be read out in open court. After the charges were formally read, Yoshitha entered his plea of not guilty and the High Court commenced trial proceedings.
The defence had earlier submitted that the first charge of conspiracy could not stand following the release of his grandmother, Daisy Forrest, from the case on medical grounds. Deputy Solicitor General Janaka Bandara had told the court Forrest’s release was unrelated to the substantive objections raised. The court had reserved its order on those objections for delivery on May 14, with the trial start contingent on the ruling.
The Attorney General had filed three charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, alleging that over Rs. 59 million believed to be illegally earned was deposited into three fixed-deposit accounts at private banks between March 2009 and December 2013. Thursday’s ruling moves the case past preliminary objections into substantive hearings under the High Court’s jurisdiction.
The development is a qualitatively new accountability milestone within the wider Rajapaksa-family prosecutions. A separate money-laundering matter against Yoshitha was previously postponed to June 10 pending amended indictments, while his father Mahinda Rajapaksa faces an incomplete-affidavit issue at CIABOC over his spouse’s assets.
