Mount Lavinia Magistrate A.D. Chathurika De Silva reprimanded officials of the Colombo Fraud Bureau (CFB) for sending extracts of the case involving Trade Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe to the Attorney General even before completing the investigation.
The case involves a building belonging to a trust known as the National Workers’ Institute being fraudulently leased for Rs. 3.6 million by persons, including Mr. Samarasinghe, allegedly posing as officials of the trade union National Workers’ Congress.
The magistrate had questioned what the hurry was in sending the file and said that sending the incomplete file could lead to the delay of the case.
The magistrate enquired about the progress of the investigation and was told by the CFB that it had forwarded the file to the AG for advice. She informed the CFB to ask the AG for advice after completing the investigation.
Police informed the court on Friday through a further report that statements had been obtained from all persons related to the incident. Accordingly, a statement had been recorded from Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe at the Fraud Bureau premises on August 21. Earlier, statements had also been obtained from Deputy Minister Mahinda Jayasinghe and Kaduwela Mayor Ranjan Jayalal on August 14.
The magistrate inquired from the police whether it had been revealed that the building in question belonged to Mr. Samarasinghe. Police replied in the negative, adding that in his statement to the police, Mr. Samarasinghe had stated that in keeping with the decision taken at the trade union’s general meeting in 2020, he had acted as the lessee of the building and had used the money from the building’s lease for the needs of the union.
President’s Counsel Maithri Gunaratne, who appeared with Attorney-at-Law Kisal Senanayake for the aggrieved party, namely the lawful office bearers and the trust, accused that the file had been forwarded to the AG for advice with the aim of delaying the investigation.
He argued that police have already reported facts to court stating that the persons whose statements had been recorded had committed a crime and noted that the court had already ordered police to immediately arrest the suspects and produce them in court. In this situation, police are now trying to move towards a different stance, Mr. Gunaratne pointed out.
He charged that when a lawful group of office bearers were present, it was a crime for Mr. Samarasinghe to fraudulently pose as an official of the union and lease out the building.
Magistrate De Silva postponed giving an order on the request made by the aggrieved party to name Mr. Samarasinghe and others as suspects in the case till September 26. She said that she is due to go on transfer to another court and that the magistrate who takes over will give that order, adding that no pressure had been exerted regarding this particular complaint.
(Source: Ranjith Padmasiri – Sunday Times)
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