Wijeyadasa Lies, AG Wanted Criminal Prosecution Of Avant Garde
November 13, 2015
Self proclaimed ‘clean man’ Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe has continuously lied on the Avant Garde scandal to the public, previously revealed documents by the Colombo Telegraph shows.
Rajapakshe who has maintained that he has had no ties with the company implicated in large scale corruption amounting to billions of rupees, said that he is only basing his opinion on the advice of the Attorney General.
Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe
Rajapakshe said in several interviews that the Attorney General had consistently maintained that there was no criminal case against the Company.
However, contrary to Rajapakshe’s recent claims the Colombo Telegraph is in possession of a memo sent by an Additional Solicitor General to the Attorney General on the above matter.
The Attorney General department works on a case by case basis, with the Attorney General himself usually playing no part in the proceedings.
A case is usually handed over to a senior officer such as a Additional Solicitor General or a Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) who is completely in charge of the case.
The scandal was under the purview of ASG Wasantha Nawarathne Bandara who specifically called for the prosecution of the Company and officials including its Chairman Nissanka Senadipathi, and Gotabaya Rajapaksa among others to be arrested.
However, the arrest was prevented. It is learnt that both Rajapakshe and Tilak Marapana were completely behind the move to stall the case.
A senior member of the Attorney Generals Department confirmed the influence of the duo
“We were supposed to work independently and there was enough evidence to prosecute them. What could have been done was at least to arrest and if not arrest impound their passports but the Justice Minister and then Advisor to the Prime Minister, Marapana said no” he said.
Senadipathi whose passport was impounded earlier this year, thereafter traveled to countries including Nigeria.
“Obviously the purpose of the travel was to cover the tracks. Why else would anyone specifically want to go to Nigeria. It was done under the patronage of these two and everyone in the Department knows that as a matter of fact” he said.
Under Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe’s watch former Presidential Secretary Lalith Weerathunga and Anusha Palpita were presented before the High Court instead of the Magistrates Court in September this year and were granted bail.
The offences under which the duo were granted bail, come within the purview of a Magistrate, and are non-bailable offences.
Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris thereafter berated the Police for producing the two suspects before the High Court instead of the Magistrate Court.
The offences they were charged with include misappropriation of millions of rupees from Sri Lanka Telecom.
We reproduce the memo sent by ASG Wasantha Nawarathne Bandara to the AG in full below.
