The Court of Appeal Monday postponed the hearing of a revision petition filed by the former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa with respect to the Avant Garde case until 4th of August.
The revision petition filed by former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa requesting the court to release him and seven other dependents from the charges filed by the bribery Commission over the floating armory of the Avant Garde Maritime Services was taken up before a two-judge bench of justices Achala Vengapulli and Arjuna Obeysekera.
President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva PC appearing on behalf of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa presenting oral submissions today said that it was necessary to file the document with the written permission of the Bribery Commission in the court when charges are filed under the Bribery Act.
However, the President’s Counsel argued, that the Bribery Commission did not file the written document containing the written approval when filing charges against Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and other suspects and hence it is illegal to file charges under the Bribery Act against his client.
The Court ordered the state counsel to make submissions on the matter at the next hearing on 4th August.
The defendants are accused of causing a financial loss to the tune of 11.4 billion rupees to the Government by paving the way for the operation of a floating armory by the Avant Garde Maritime Services.
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, in his petition to the Colombo Magistrate Court, stated that the Director General of Bribery Commission had not obtained a written approval from the Commission before taking legal action against him and the other suspects.
Therefore he has raised preliminary objections at the Colombo Magistrate Court against the Commission’s charges but the court has rejected his objections and the magistrate’s decision to reject his preliminary objections was illegal.
The petitioner stated that a revision petition was filed in the Colombo High Court stating that Colombo Magistrate Court decision was illegal but the High Court rejected the petition without further examination.
In addition, the petitioner requests the Court of Appeal to issue an interim order suspending the hearing of the Avant Garde case at the Colombo Magistrate’s Court until the conclusion of the revision petition.
