Have Authorities Deceived The People On Mahendran’s ‘Red Notice’?
Amrit Muttukumaru
Former Central Bank Governor, Arjuna Mahendran’s place of residence is now no more a secret subsequent to media reports of a senior official in the Attorney General’s Department informing court that Mahendran, a fugitive from justice “had requested for copies of the warrant and evidence against him from the CID via the Singapore Interpol”. This was in response to the Colombo Fort Magistrate asking the senior AG official on the status of the Arrest warrant issued by court on Mahendran.
Apart from the ‘request’ from Mahendran being unusual, it leaves no doubt that the precise address of Mahendran is now known both to the authorities in Sri Lanka and Interpol. This is because Mahendran would have revealed the address to which the required documents were to be forwarded. The excuse of his whereabouts being unknown can no longer be trotted out by Sri Lanka authorities.
Will not this request likely set a dangerous precedent inimical to upholding the rule of law in relation to the criminal justice system? Are persons summoned to appear in court for criminal cases as in the case of Mahendran, entitled to documents prior to presenting themselves to court? Would even President Donald Trump if summoned to appear before US Department of Justice Special Counsel, Robert Mueller know in advance the questions Mueller would ask him? The views of legal experts on this matter will be appreciated.
Even Mahendran’s son-in-law, Arjun Aloysius being in remand custody for the past several months has not moved him to be in Sri Lanka to either visit him or his daughter who we are to presume until now are unaware of his whereabouts.
It is apparent the AG’s Dept. is not keen to act on the warrant on the basis of the lead story (not contradicted) in the ‘Daily Mirror’ of 24 August 2018. It is reported that Senior Deputy Solicitor General Haripriya Jayasundara had informed court that after having “obtained a red notice” from Interpol they were “working on certain arrangements on this matter”. To say the least the reporting of this response is vague. The newspaper report fails to disclose (i) when the ‘Red Notice’ was obtained? (ii) the date on which the authorities became aware of Mahendran’s precise location? (iii) for how long the authorities were “working” on the undefined “certain arrangements”? (iv) whether Mahendran was part of or aware of these “arrangements”? (v) whether Mahendran’s request for documents were consequent to these “arrangements”?
It appears these matters have not been brought to the attention of court – hence the magistrate’s query “what had happened with regard to the warrant issued” and request for a “report on that matter without delay”. The response of the senior AG official “it would make the necessary submission no sooner the process was finalized” is symptomatic of the issue not being a priority to the AG’s Department. This is alarming since Mahendran is reportedly the first suspect in the magisterial inquiry into the bond scam which is arguably one of the largest financial scams to have taken place in the post-independence history of Sri Lanka. For sheer impunity and involvement of powerful politicians in collusion with a section of the corporate sector and regulatory authorities it is hard to beat.
We now get to the CLAIM of the Attorney General’s Department to court as reported in the media (not contradicted) that they had “obtained a red notice” from Interpol against Mahendran. The Interpol website does not support this claim.
Interpol ‘Red Notice’
