Former Minister Wimal Weerawansa yesterday declared before the Colombo High Court that he is innocent of the corruption charges filed against him.
When the case was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Navaratne Marasinghe, Additional Solicitor General Ayesha Jinasena appearing for the Bribery Commission,
stated that steps would be taken to amend the charge sheet filed against the accused and handed over copies of the amended charge sheet to the court.
Following that, the judge handed over a copy of the amended charge sheet to the accused.
The amended indictment was then read out in Open Court and former Minister Wimal Weerawansa has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
After that, the case was fixed for June 28 by the Colombo High Court.
In this case, the Bribery Commission Director General had filed indictments against Wimal Weerawansa for the alleged unlawful acquisition of money and assets, estimated at Rs.75 million, within a period of six years, while serving as a Minister, during the former Mahinda Rajapakse regime.
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) Director General alleged that the Minister had committed this offence by way of undeclared assets between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2014.
The indictments were filed under 39 incidents based on monetary and property transactions estimated at Rs.75 million.The Director General alleged that the Minister had unlawfully made 26 monetary transactions, constructed a house, and purchased lands and vehicles in contravention of Section 23(a) of the Bribery Act.The Bribery Commission’s Director General further alleged that Minister Weerawansa had owned these properties deemed under the provision of the Act to be property acquired through bribery.
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