Briefing the Colombo High Court trial-at-bar on the progress of the extradition of fugitive former Central Bank Governor Arjun Mahendran, the Attorny General informed court yesterday that the huge volume of supportive documents that the AG’s Department had sent Singapore along with the extradition request had slowed down the processing of the request at the Singaporean end.
Additional Solicitor General Parinda Ranasinghe, appearing for the Attorney General, informed the Permanent Trial-at-Bar bench that both the Sri Lankan and Singapore Attorney General’s Departments were in regular contact and exchanging e-mail messages regarding the progress of ex-Governor Arjun Mahendran’s extradition.
ASG Ranasinghe further submitted that, after processing, the Singaporean authorities would forward the extradition request to a Singapore court for a determination that this extradition request is consistent with Singaporean laws.
He explained to Court that the authorities in Singapore had sought more time due to the unusually high volume of documents pertaining to the extradition request sent to them by Colombo.
The Permanent Trial-at-Bar bench has already issued a warrant written in English through the Interpol for the arrest of former Central Bank Governor Arjun Mahendran who is currently evading courts by residing overseas. Mahendran is wanted in connection with the Central Bank bond scam case.
Meanwhile, the Trial-at-Bar bench, comprising Judges Sampath Abeykoon (President), Sampath Wijeratne and Champa Janaki Rajaratne issued summons directing tenth accused Ajahn Gardiya Punchihewa to be appear in court on March 27.
He is the tenth accused in the Central Bank bonds scam case, and a director of Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) the company involved in the case. Punchihewa was also not present in court and Court was informed that he is residing in Singapore. The case was fixed for March 31, 2020.
Meanwhile, the High Court Trial-at-Bar bench yesterday permitted the sixth accused Jeffrey Joseph Aloysius, the Chairman of Perpetual Treasuries Limited to travel overseas for medical treatment between December 6 and January 6. His passport was ordered to be released on two additional bonds worth Rs.2.5 million each.
Criminal indictments have been filed in this case against former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, former Bank Deputy Governor P. Samarasiri, Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL), the PTL beneficiary owner Arjun Joseph Aloysius, PTL Chief dealer Kasun Palisena, Chairman of Perpetual Treasuries Limited Jeffrey Joseph Aloysius, PTL directors Pushpa Mithra Gunawardena, Chitta Ranjan Hulugalle, Muthuraja Surendran and Ajahn Gardiya Punchihewa.
According to the indictments, all ten accused have been charged with conspiracy to commit criminal misappropriation in respect of treasury bonds to the face value of Rs.10.058 billion and Mahendran and Samarasiri have been charged with criminal breach of trust in respect of Treasury Bonds to the face value of Rs.10.058 billion resulting in a loss to the government of Rs. 688.76 million. Former Deputy Governor P. Samarasiri is accused of abetting the former Central Bank governor Arjuna Mahendran to commit criminal breach of trust in respect of Treasury Bonds. The PTL is accused of insider dealing and criminal misappropriation in respect of Treasury Bonds to the face value of Rs. 5 billion. Mahendran, Samarasiri, Aloysius, Palisena and the PTL director board are accused of abetting PTL to commit insider dealing and criminal misappropriation. The charges have been presented under the Public Property Act and Registered Stocks and Securities Ordinance. The Attorney General has named 115 individuals as prosecution witnesses and further listed 236 documents as production items. The supporting evidence in the form of court productions is understood to number over 1 million pages of documents.
Additional Solicitor General Parinda Ranasinghe with ASG Priyantha Nawana appeared for the Attorney General. President’s Counsel Gamini Marapana with counsel Sanath Wijewardena and counsel Hafeel Farisz appeared for the accused.
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