A corruption case filed against former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and seven others for allegedly causing a Rs.11.4 billion unlawful loss to the government by giving permission to Avant-Garde Maritime Services (Pvt.) Limited to operate a floating armoury was yesterday postponed till September 23 by Colombo Additional Magistrate Thanuja Jayatunga.
The President’s Counsel Romesh Silva appearing for Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday informed the magistrate that the Court of Appeal had directed the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court to acquit all the suspects including the former Defense Secretary from the case.
The first accused, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had earlier filed a revision petition in the Court of Appeal, challenging the Chief Magistrate’s Court and Colombo High Court’s decision to refuse preliminary objections raised by him.
When the matter was taken up, Avant Garde Chairman Major Nissanka Senadhipathi was not present in Court.
The Additional Magistrate observed that the order has not been officially received by court.
The Bribery Commission alleged that the accused had given permission to Avant-Garde Maritime Services (Pvt.) Limited to operate a floating armoury between August 7, 2012 and January 8, 2015 in violation of laws by providing unlawful income to the private company, amounting to Rs.11.4 billion.
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption had filed the case against the eight accused under Section 70 of the Bribery Act.
After taking the facts into consideration, the Additional Magistrate ordered the registrar to obtain a copy of the acquittal order and submit it to the court on next hearing date
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