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Whether President, PM appear or not, Tissa Attanayake case will go on
The forgery case against former UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayaka will be continued even if President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe do not present themselves as witnesses in the case, Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Deilipa Peiris told court this week.
Mr. Attanayake is accused of displaying a fraudulent document to the media during the 2015 presidential election with the intention of affecting the result for then Common Candidate Maithripala Sirisena,
When the case was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Vikum Kaluaarachchi, court was informed that President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe were out of the country on state visits.
DSG Peiris told courts that instead of waiting for the President and Prime Minister he would proceed with the next witness, Derana journalist Sumudhu Mahilal Jayaweera.
Senior Counsel Kalinga Indatissa appearing for Mr. Attanayake told court and the prosecution that he wanted the case be postponed as he was not available on that particular day due to a personal reason.
The DSG pointed out that he was prepared to proceed with the case as Mr.Attanayake had claimed during a news conference that this case was being dragged on. He said there was no reason to do that and he wanted to proceed with the case with other witnesses.
Meanwhile, Mr Attanayake had obtained permission from court to travel to Japan and Australia.
The court ordered to issue summons on President and Prime Minister to appear in court on the next date. Previously summons had been issued on both of them on four occasions, but they had not appeared in courts.
The case will be taken up next on January 22, 2019.