Prosecution witness Athula Sanjeewa Madanayake declared before the Colombo High Court that he was forced by a Director of CID at that time to give false testimony before the Magistrate Court over the case filed against two accused including former Minister Rajitha Senaratne in connection with the controversial White van press conference in 2019.
Witness Madanayake informed the Court that he was given false testimony before the Magistrate’s Court due to the fact that he was forced by a CID Director at that time to make allegations against Former Minister Rajitha Senaratne.
The case was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Damith Thotawatta and the High Court Judge issued the warrant against prosecution witness Sarath Kumara due to his absence before Court for the second consecutive day to record his testimony.
At a previous occasion, the Colombo High Court directed the Attorney General to submit a detailed report on the persons who are influencing the witnesses in the case.
Court issued the order after considering the statements made by the counsel of the two main witnesses in the case that they were assaulted.
Accordingly, a Director of the Criminal Investigation Department produced a letter describing that a full report regarding the assaulting of witnesses will be handed over to the court following the assessment report of State Intelligence Service (SIS).
The report was yesterday produced before the Colombo High Court and it stated that there were not influences to the witnesses from the accused.
The case will be taken up again on June 8 for further trial.
The Attorney General filed indictments comprising 14 charges of conspiracy and aiding and abetting under sections 190, 169 (G) of the Penal Code and Section 80 of the Presidential Election Act against Former Minister Rajitha Senaratne and former State Pharmaceuticals Corporation Chairman Mohammad Rumi in the Colombo High Court in connection with the controversial White Van Press Conference.
Sakalavalli Arachchige Sarath Kumara and Watareka Gamage Athula Sanjeewa Madanayake who were named as the first and second suspects in the case before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court have been released from the charges and they were named as prosecution witnesses in the indictment.
Minister Rajitha Senaratne was arrested in connection with organizing the white van press conference on November 10 ahead of the Presidential election 2019.
He was later released on two sureties of Rs.500,000 by Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne. In her bail order, the Chief Magistrate observed that according to the Criminal Procedure Code, the charges levelled against former minister Senaratne were bailable offences.
Former State Pharmaceuticals Corporation Chairman Mohommed Rumi Mohommed Azeem and two other individuals, namely Sakalawalli Arachchige Sarath Kumara and Athula Sanjeewa Madanayake, who had allegedly been involved in the incident, were also released on bail.