From The Sunday Times
Lieutenant Yoshitha Rajapaksa, son of former President
Mahinda Rajapaksa, and four others were remanded till February 11 by Kaduwela
Magistrate Dhammika Hemapala yesterday. They were produced before him by
detectives of the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID). Yoshitha is
accused of money laundering to the tune of Rs. 365 million, criminal breach of
trust, forgery and undervaluing imported items obtained by Carlton Sports
Network.
The other four, accused of aiding and abetting, are
Nishantha Ranatunga, former Secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket, Rohan Welivita,
media cooridinator for the former president, Ravinath Fernando and Kaushal
Dissanayake. A sixth suspect, now abroad, is to be arrested upon her return,
detectives said.
The arrest of Yoshitha Rajapaksa came after FCID detectives
questioned him at Navy Headquarters yesterday. Since he is an officer of the
Navy, the questioning this time had been carried out after he was summoned to
Navy Headquarters in the Fort. From there, detectives accompanied him to the
Kaduwela Magistrate’s Court where he was produced before Magistrate Hemapala in
his chambers together with the four others.
FCID detectives said yesterday that they had seized Rs. 165
million from the CSN bank account which had not been accounted for. They
alleged that funds for setting up the television channel had come from illegal
sources abroad and also funds deposited in foreign banks had been remitted back
to Sri Lanka.
Former President Rajapaksa, his brothers Basil and Gotabaya,
his wife Shiranthi and son Namal were among those present in the Court
premises. Also present were former Ministers Rohitha Abeygunasekera and
Johnston Fernando.
No comments:
Post a Comment