Former Deputy Minister Sarath Kumara Gunaratne held in remand custody for allegedly misappropriating Rs. 12 million of public funds allocated for the Negombo Lagoon Development Project was yesterday released on bail by Colombo Chief Magistrate Lal Bandara.
The former Deputy Minister was ordered to be released on a cash bail of Rs. 25,000 with two sureties of one million rupees.
The suspect was further ordered to appear before CID on last Sunday of every month.
Meanwhile, the sixth suspect Upul Chaminda Kumarasinghe, the son-in-law of former Deputy Sarath Kumara Gunaratne was ordered to be remanded till February 3 regarding the same allegation after being surrendered before Chief Magistrate through a lawyer.
The former Fisheries Deputy Minister was arrested by the CID on January 2 for the alleged misappropriation of Rs. 12 million belonging to the Ceylon Fisheries Harbour Corporation (CFHC) during the last Presidential election.
At a previous occasion, former CFHC Chairman Upali Liyanage, CFHC General Manager Piyal Abeysekara, Deputy General Manager Chandana Palpita and Lakmuni Munidasa were ordered to be released on bail regarding this incident.
In this case, the CID had named six individuals including Gunaratne as the suspects following the instructions of the Attorney General. The Special Presidential Investigation Commission recommended that the Attorney General’s advise be sought to institute legal action against the persons responsible for the alleged financial frauds.
The Attorney General is expecting to file indictments against the suspects in the High Court.
President’s Counsel Shavendra Fernando, Senior Counsel Lal Kularatne, Upul Kumarapperuma and Counsel Sampath Mendis appeared for the suspects.
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