News
No leniency for Divineguma officer who solicited sexual bribe: High Court Judge
View(s):By Ranjith Padmasiri
A former Divineguma Development Officer in Kataragama was sentenced to 20 years rigorous imprisonment by Colombo High Court Judge Adithya Kumara Patabendi after being found guilty on four counts of soliciting a sexual bribe from a woman to give his recommendation to obtain Samurdhi benefits and treatment for one of her children suffering from a kidney ailment.
The judge ordered that the prison sentence be served over 10 years and also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the accused. He imposed a further six-month prison term on the accused in the event he fails to pay the fine.
The sentence was imposed on J M Ruwan Pradeep Madushanka, a former Divineguma Development Officer attached to the Kataragama Divisional Secretariat.
The complainant, a mother of three from Sella Kataragama, was from a low-income background and had met with the accused and appealed to him to help her obtain any benefit to carry on her livelihood as her son was also suffering from a kidney ailment. The accused had promised to assist her to obtain Samurdhi benefits as well as a sewing machine. To do so however, he had demanded a sexual bribe from the complainant and asked her to come to a hotel. On the day he had asked her to come, the complainant had gone to the hotel with a group of officers from the Bribery Commission. Bribery Commission officials had accordingly arrested the accused on March 21, 2016 on charges of soliciting and attempting to obtain a sexual bribe.
In announcing his judgment, the high court judge said he could not be lenient with the accused because, as a government official educated on public funds and whose salary had been paid with public funds, he had committed a grave offence by soliciting a sexual bribe from a poverty-stricken woman who had come to him for assistance to obtain services she was entitled to from the government.
Assistant Director General (Legal) of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption Anuradha Siriwardana, who led the prosecution, told court that the accused deserved stern punishment so that it serves as a lesson to others.
The lengthy prison sentence means that the accused also loses his civic rights.
Hariguptha Rohanadheera appeared for the accused.
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