Sathosa bribery case witness has left country after retiring, court informed

The Colombo High Court yesterday was informed by the Bribery Commission that the first prosecution witness in the case filed against former minister Johnston Fernando for excluding Sathosa employees from their duties and engaging them in political activities is residing abroad

When the case was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Manjula Thilakaratne, Deputy Director Ganga Heiyanthuduwa appearing on behalf of the Bribery Commission informed Court that prosecution witness Vipula Kithsiri Silva, the former Deputy General Manager of Sathosa, has gone abroad to Dubai after retiring last year.

After considering the circumstances, summons was issued to the third prosecution witness in the case to testify before the court on October 12.The case will be taken up again on October 12.

The cases were filed against former Minister Johnston Fernando when he was acting as the Trade Minister, former CWE (Lak Sathosa) Chairman Eraj Fernando and former Minister’s Private Secretary Raj Mohideen Mohammad Zakeer for allegedly causing an unlawful loss to the government by employing the employees of the Co-operative Wholesale Establishment (CWE) for election work.

The Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption filed these corruption cases against three accused under Section 70 of the Bribery Act on four charges.

The three accused including former minister Johnston Fernando had previously been prosecuted by the Bribery or Corruption Investigation Commission and those cases were dismissed due to the cases being filed without the written consent of three commissioners of the Bribery Commission.