SEC ordered by court to submit share transaction report of Dilith Jayaweera, Nalaka Godahewa
View(s):The Colombo Magistrate’s Court has directed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to submit a detailed report on share transactions of Dilith Jayaweera, former SEC chief Nalaka Godahewa, Varuni Amunugama and Sarvajana Anandaraj Ameresekere since 2008.
The Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris made this order in response to a request by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) when the case on alleged irregularities in Lanka Hospitals share transactions was taken up for hearing this week.
The FCID is carrying out investigations into a number of irregularities that had taken place at the CSE during the recent past, including insider trading and market manipulation. These irregularities are alleged to have taken place between 2009 and 2014 at Lanka Hospitals Corporation Plc under the chairmanship of former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The case was based on a complaint lodged by Dr. Neomal Alexander Perera, a cancer specialist attached to Lanka Hospitals.
The complainant alleged that Rajapaksa took control of the affairs of the hospital and was responsible for a financial fraud amounting to Rs.600 million that took place after artificially manipulating the price of Lanka Hospital shares in the stock market.
According to the complainant, a fraud of Rs. 350 million had taken place when the hospital set up the LHD Diagnostics Laboratory and that several irregularities had occurred during the purchase of two houses by Lanka Hospitals which did not follow a proper tender procedure. The court has further ordered a full disclosure of bank account details of Mr. Jayaweera, Dr. Godahewa, Ms. Amunugama and Mr. Ameresekere.The FCID revealed to court that the bank accounts of these individuals at Bank of Ceylon, Nations Trust Bank and several other banks have been already examined.
The Additional Magistrate directed that the names used by the individuals in question, during the transaction and all other related material be submitted to court through a report. The respective banks have been ordered to submit to court, bank statements of the four individuals – between January 2011 and June 30, 2011.