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Former Chief Minister S.M. Ranjith indicted
The Bribery Commission has filed indictments before Colombo High Court against former North Central Province Chief Minister S.M. Ranjith Samarakoon and Shanthi Chandrasena, the spouse of Minister S.M. Chandrasena for allegedly causing an unlawful loss to the government when obtaining fuel allowance between September 27, 2012, and December 31, 2014.
S.M. Ranjith Samarakoon is a brother of Minister of Lands S.M. Chandrasena.
The Director-General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption filed indictments against S.M. Ranjith and his then private secretary Shanthi Chandrasena under section 70 of the Bribery Act on eight charges.
The Bribery Commission alleged that first accused S.M. Ranjith while serving as the North Central Province Chief Minister had made arrangements to allocate a sum of Rs.2.68 million to the official vehicle of his private secretary Shanthi Chandrasena despite her fuel allowance had been added to her salary.
When the two accused appeared before Colombo High Court Judge Adithya Patabendi, they were ordered to be released on a surety bail of Rs.2.5 million each.
Meanwhile, defence counsel Darshana Kuruppu appearing for the accused informed that he wishes to raise preliminary objections challenging the maintainability of the indictment.
The indictments had been filed under five counts under section 70 of the Bribery Act and sections 113 and 102 of the Penal Code.
Assistant Director-General of the Bribery Commission Asitha Anthony appeared for the prosecution.
Senior Counsel Sisira Rathnayaka with counsel Darshana Kuruppu, Mangala Ranaraja, Nilantha Wijesinghe, Buddhika Thilakarathna, Dineru Bandara appeared for the accused. (Lakmal Sooriyagoda)
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