High court ruling on Mahendran, Aloysius case

COLOMBO: Former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, and nine other people who were accused in the 1st Bond Scam case of 2015 were released from the charges filed under the Public Property Act, by the Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar.

The court ruled that it cannot proceed with the charges filed under the Public Property Act by the Attorney General against the ten people accused of committing the Bond Scam of 2015.

The verdict was delivered by a 2/3 majority in the court.

The case was called up in the presence of Justices Chamath Morias, Damith Thotawatte, and Namal Balalle.

President’s Counsel Gamini Marapana had filed a preliminary objection with the court noting that charges cannot be charged against a company under the Public Property Act and noted that Perpetual Treasuries Limited which was also named as an accused is a company and not a person.

After the court accepted the objection, the defense counsel also argued that as a majority of the other accused at Directors of Perpetual Treasuries Limited, it applies to them as well, and therefore the charges under the Public Property Act filed against them cannot be taken forward.

Thereby, the Justice of the Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar ordered for all other charges to be taken up for a trial, leaving the charges filed under the Public Property Act, on Dec. 16, 2022.

The case was filed against the 10 accused under 23 counts for committing the Bond Scam on Feb. 27, 2015, and causing a loss of Rs. 688 Million to the government.

The accused are:

Ex-CBSL Governor Lakshman Arjuna Mahendran

Ex-CBSL Deputy Governor P. Samarasiri

Perpetual Treasuries Limited

Arjun Joseph Aloysius

Kasun Palisena

Geoffrey Joseph Aloysius

Pushpa Chandra Gunawardena

C. Ranjan Hulugalle

Muthuraja Surendran

Ajahn Gardiye Punchihewa