Warrant for Basil Rajapaksa

Colombo Fort Magistrate Pasan Amarasekara today (17) ordered the immediate arrest and production in court of former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa in connection with an incident of misappropriation of government funds belonging to the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau. This order was issued to the Foreign and Illicit Assets Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department.

The Magistrate took this step when the relevant case was recalled before the court today.

Here, officials of the Criminal Investigation Department, presenting facts before the court, stated that a sum of Rs. 7.8 million (seven point eight million) allocated to the Bureau for tourism promotion activities in 2014 had been illegally utilized. Investigating officers pointed out that these funds were misused to distribute 12,000 T-shirts during the Uva Provincial Council election period, causing a serious financial loss to the government. They also confirmed before the court that all these charges have been filed under the Public Property Act.

During the trial, President's Counsel Kalinga Indatissa, appearing for the third suspect in the incident, made a special announcement. The lawyer stated that his client was prepared to give a confidential statement in accordance with Section 127 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Meanwhile, the Magistrate ordered the release of former Managing Director of the Tourism Promotion Bureau, Rumi Jauffer, who was remanded in connection with this case, on two personal bails of one million rupees each, and also imposed a travel ban preventing him from leaving the country.

Additionally, the Magistrate inquired from the Criminal Investigation Department whether the Director of Finance of the Tourism Promotion Bureau, whose name is mentioned in the 'B report' of the relevant case, would also be named as a suspect. In response, the department stated that they had not yet received instructions from the Attorney General regarding this matter. Considering the facts presented, the Colombo Fort Magistrate decided to recall this case for hearing on October 14th.