Weak prosecution case clears police OIC charged for bribery

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda

The Colombo High Court Judge Navaratne Marasinghe yesterday acquitted the former OIC of Mount-Lavinia Special Crime Investigation Bureau (SCIB) Inspector of Police Samaraweera Gunarathne from all the charges of bribery as the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.

The Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption indicted the Inspector of Police Samaraweera Gunarathne for soliciting and accepting a sum of Rs. 20,000 from a woman in order to expedite the investigation into complaint made by one of her friends at the SCIB of Mount Lavinia Police Station.
According to the prosecution, after receiving the complaint from the complainant, a police team organized a raid and arrested IP Gunarathne while he was accepting a bribe from the complainant in front of CCTV cameras of a private Bank in Dehiwala. According to the Prosecution, the accused police officer was arrested on June 20, 2016. The prosecution produced the CCTV footage to prove the accused taking money from the complainant.
The defence of the accused was that he gave a sum of Rs. 25,000 as an advance to find a house to the complainant as she is a broker. The complainant during her evidence admitted that she is a broker but denied that she took an advance payment from the accused in order to find a house for him. The complainant also admitted that prior to the date of arrest she and her uncle, a retired police officer, went to the DIG of Mount Lavinia Police Division to make a complaint against the accused as the accused delayed the process of the Investigation.
The defence called several witnesses to prove the charges against the accused were fabricated as the accused scolded the complainant and her uncle. Having considered the evidence of the prosecution and the defence, Colombo High Court Judge Navaratne Marasinghe decided to acquit and discharge the accused as the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt. Senior Counsel Darshana Kuruppu with Buddhika Thilakarathna, Sahan Weerasinghe, Sudarasha Silva and Tharushi Gamage appeared for the accused.