Three suspects who were remanded for allegedly laundering Rs. 84 million violating the Banking Ordinance were released on a Rs.1 million personal bail by a Colombo Magistrate.

The three suspects - S. P. Dixon, N. B. Sivarajan and S. Ilangovan were arrested by the Colombo Fraud Bureau and remanded till Wednesday on the orders of the Additional Magistrate of Colombo Prashantha Alwis.

During the resumption of the inquiry before the Magistrate’s Court  C. R. de Silva PC appearing with Senior Counsel  K. V. Thavarasha and  Periyanathan Arnold submitted to the Magistrate Pasan Amarasinghe that the Colombo Fraud Bureau had charged his clients for violating the Banking Ordinance.

He said the charges were inconsistent with the offences his clients had committed.

The counsel contended the offences committed by the suspects on transacting of foreign currency without a valid licence which was an offence that fell under the Violation of Foreign Currency Act.

He said the Police had charged the suspects for offences committed under the Banking Law. The counsel told the magistrate the offence committed was bailable and moved to grant bail to the suspects.

The Magistrate released the suspects on Rs.1 million personal bail. They were ordered to hand over their passports to court and further ordered them to be present in person before the Colombo Fraud Bureau on the last week of every month. (T. Farook Thajudeen)