Powerful ex-minister to be arrested?

A former powerful minister will be arrested in connection with the more than Rs. 71 million fraud that had taken place in the Sabaragamuwa provincial council on the basis of information provided by the suspects already in custody.

Several ex-officers of Embilipitiya Pradeshiya Sabha have been remanded over the questionable use of the funds for 77 road and playground construction projects by the provincial highways ministry in 2016-17.

Embilipitiya chief magistrate Thilina Peiris ordered that a technical officer named Y.M.P. Bandara, a clerk named S.A. Chinthaka Kumara and Amal Thushara Witharanage, a secretary, be remanded until 08 April.

In 2023, secretary to the provincial ministry Chamara Premanath lodged a complaint with the CID’s financial and commercial crimes division with regard to the fraud.

The court has been told that 15 of the projects never materialized.