Investigations into the Colombo 7 lady 'being made a farmer' and the fraudulent granting of lands

An former Grama Niladhari (village officer) from the Kurunduwatta area, who issued a fake income certificate to an extremely wealthy woman residing in Barnes Place, Colombo 07, falsely confirming her as a low-income farmer, has been arrested by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption and produced before the court. Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S.

Bodaragama yesterday (30) revealed these facts, and the Bribery Commission emphasized that legal action would be taken against all state officials who facilitated the acquisition of government agricultural lands from the Kilinochchi area through this fraud.

The arrested suspect, former Grama Niladhari Kulasakarage Nimal Jayasiri, had issued a letter stating that the woman's monthly income was ten thousand rupees. However, it was revealed in court that she is actually a millionaire who owns a fifty-acre land, a five-star hotel, and a power plant located in the Giniganathena area. Using this forged document, in 2016, she obtained two plots of land, each 80 perches, totaling 160 perches, from the government in the Kuchchaveli area of Kilinochchi, which the Bribery Commission pointed out should have rightfully belonged to poor farmers.

It has been calculated that this illegal procedure caused a massive financial loss of Rs. 10,625,000 to the government, while unfairly benefiting other parties. Considering the facts, the Chief Magistrate issued an order to the Bribery Commission to promptly enforce the law against the Divisional Secretary and other officials directly involved in this land fraud, as well as against the wealthy woman who fraudulently obtained the said lands.

Attorney Upul de Silva, appearing for the suspect in court, stated that his client is already a retiree and had merely provided an income letter upon request. He argued that if any wrongdoing occurred based on that letter, the suspect had no involvement in it. However, considering that the suspect had cooperated with the investigations from the outset, the Magistrate ordered his release on two personal bails of ten lakh rupees each, while imposing a travel ban, and further instructed that the progress of the investigations be reported to the court on August 25th.