Shashi Weerawansa's two-year rigorous imprisonment confirmed

The appeal filed by Mrs. Shashi Weerawansa against the two-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of one hundred thousand rupees imposed on her after being found guilty of possessing an irregularly prepared passport was rejected by the Colombo High Court today. Colombo High Court Judge Manjula Thilakarathne announced this verdict, stating that the sentence previously handed down by the Colombo Magistrate's Court against the accused would be further affirmed.

A decision regarding the implementation of this sentence will be given in July.

This two-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of one hundred thousand rupees (with an additional six months imprisonment if the fine is not paid) against Mrs. Ranasinghe Mudiyanselage Shirsha Udayanthi, also known as Shashi Weerawansa, the wife of former Minister of Industries Wimal Weerawansa, was initially imposed on May 27, 2022, by the then Chief Magistrate of Colombo, Mr. Buddhika Sri Ragala. She was found guilty of violating the Immigration and Emigration Act by obtaining two passports, including a diplomatic passport, by submitting forged documents and false information. She had filed this appeal petition with the Colombo High Court, requesting to be completely acquitted from that punishment.

According to investigations initiated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) during the 'Yahapalana' government era, it was revealed that while her ordinary passport stated her year of birth as 1967, she had provided false information, stating her year of birth as 1971, to obtain a diplomatic passport. Although she was immediately imprisoned upon being sentenced by the Magistrate's Court in 2022, she was later granted bail on a personal bond of Rs. 500,000 with strict conditions and a cash bail of Rs. 15,000, thus she did not immediately serve the full prison term.

Recently, evidence was also heard in connection with this passport fraud case, which has been ongoing for over a decade. On May 25th, the case was called before Magistrate Liyan Warusawithana at the Colombo Magistrate's Court. The accused, who is currently on bail, appeared in court. The case was scheduled to be recalled on July 24th to consider a request made by the defense to allow examination of the relevant documented computer data system under the Evidence Ordinance before leading evidence. With the announcement of the appeal verdict in this politically significant incident, the High Court has now decided to implement the Magistrate's Court verdict as it is.