Five corruption cases against Johnston fixed for Aug. 8

Five corruption cases filed against former Minister Johnston Fernando and two others for allegedly causing a Rs.40 million loss to the government by employing 153 employees of the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment (CWE) for election work during the period 2010 to 2014 were yesterday taken up before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court.

Accordingly, cases against former Cooperative and Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando, former CWE (Lak Sathosa) Chairman Eraj Fernando and the former Minister’s Private Secretary Raj Mohideen Mohammad Sakeer were fixed for August 8 by Chief Magistrate Lal Ranasinghe Bandara.

Meanwhile, the Defence Counsel who appeared on behalf of the accused raised objections regarding the prosecution’s request to amend the charge sheets filed against the accused.

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 three charges.

The Bribery Commission alleged that the first accused Johnston Fernando had unlawfully employed 153 employees for election work during the period 2010 to 2014, while he was serving as the Minister of Cooperative and Internal Trade.