Modara Harbour lease: Case fixed for Nov 10

On Oct 4, 2021

The case filed against former Minister Rajitha Senaratne and two others over allegedly causing a loss to the Government when leasing out the Modara Fisheries harbour to a private company while he was Fisheries Minister in 2014 was yesterday fixed for November 10 by the Colombo High Court. When the case was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Mohammed Ishadin, Assistant Director General of the Bribery Commission Asitha Anthony, appearing for the prosecution, handed over the relevant documents to the accused.

The judge said that if the relevant documents were filed properly, the case will be fixed for the trial at the next hearing.

Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption Director General filed indictments against former Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Ceylon Fisheries Harbour Corporation (CFHC) former Chairman Upali Liyanage and CFHC former Managing Director Neil Ravindra Munasinghe under section 70 of the Bribery Act on five charges.

The Bribery Commission alleged that the former Minister had unlawfully taken a decision to lease out the Modara Fisheries harbour to Sea Gulf UK Private Ltd at a lower price between August 1, 2014 and November 1, 2014, while he was serving as the Fisheries Minister.

The Bribery Commission alleged that by knowing this transaction would cause an unlawful loss to the Government, the former Minister had motivated the members of the CFHC director board to lease out the fisheries harbour to Sea Gulf UK Private Ltd.

The indictments had been filed under five counts under section 70 of the Bribery Act and section 113 and 102 of the Penal Code. The prosecution had named 17 individuals as witnesses. The Bribery Commission further listed 55 documents as production items in the case.