The three-judge Court of Appeal Special Divisional Bench will resume hearings on Tuesday to decide whether to give an interim order staying the arrest warrant issued against former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake and six others by the Colombo Fort Magistrate over the Treasury bond scam. The bench comprised Justices A.H.M.D. Nawaz (President/CA), Shiran Gooneratne and [...]

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Ravi’s appeal against arrest warrant: CA to resume hearings on Tuesday

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The three-judge Court of Appeal Special Divisional Bench will resume hearings on Tuesday to decide whether to give an interim order staying the arrest warrant issued against former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake and six others by the Colombo Fort Magistrate over the Treasury bond scam.

The bench comprised Justices A.H.M.D. Nawaz (President/CA), Shiran Gooneratne and Sobitha Rajakaruna.

On Thursday, the court ruled that for the best interest of all the parties, Mr. Karunanayake and the six other suspects should appear in the Fort Magistrate’s Court before 4pm that day without any restraint. It directed the Magistrate’s Court to acknowledge their presence and that the Magistrate should make no further order until Court finally determined the propriety of the arrest order.

The court also ruled that in the event, the petitioners failed to appear in court, there was no impediment for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th respondents, namely Acting IGP, the OIC of the Financial Investigation Unit 1 and SSP Ampavila of the CID, to execute the warrant for their arrest.

As per the order issued by the Court of Appeal, the seven petitioners, including Mr Karunanayake and Perpetual Treasuries (PTL) Director Arjun Aloysius, appeared before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court around 3p.m. on Thursday. The others who appeared in court were PTL Chief Executive Officer Kasun Palisena, Chairman Geoffrey Joseph Aloysius, Director Chittha Ranjan Hulugalle, former Public Debt Department official Sangarapille Padumanapan and Employee Provident Fund officer Indika Saman Kumara.

Once the suspects appeared in court, Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake said he would note down the fact that the suspects appeared in court and directed the court registrar to notify the Court of Appeal via a letter that they had appeared in court.

The others who had warrants issued for their arrest in relation to the case were former Central Bank Govenor Arjun Mahendran, Muthuraja Surendran and Arjan Gardiye Punchihewa. Muthuraja Surendran was taken into custody by the CID on March 7 and is in remand custody till March 18.

In his petition to the Court of Appeal, Mr Karunanayake states that he has a significant role in spearheading the election campaign of the United National Party for the April 25 Parliamentary General Elections. He states he also intends to contest the General Elections.

Pointing out that the Report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Treasury Bond auctions refers to the meeting held on March 28, 2016, he notes that not withstanding the fact that he was the Minister of Finance at the material time, neither the Central Bank of Sri Lanka nor the State Banks came under his purview, and neither the said banks, nor their officers, were obligated to concur or give effect to his inclinations, if any.

He states that it should be assumed that the said officers may have been acting on the directions and dictates of persons who in fact held legal powers of supervision and direction over them, and not by him.

He claims the said the Magistrate’s March 6 arrest order is illegal, ultra vires and made without jurisdiction. He urges the Court of Appeal to issue an interim order staying the execution of the Magistrate’s order for his arrest.

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