The Colombo High Court (HC) Permanent Trial-at-Bar has reprimanded the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) for making contradictory statements before the court from time to time.
According to The Morning Newspaper, the Permanent Trial-at-Bar yesterday (8) queried whether the Commission could not take an independent decision without embarrassing witnesses, defendants, and the court.
The Commission was thus reprimanded when the case that was filed by it against Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage and two others for allegedly causing a loss to the Government during Aluthgamage’s tenure as a former Sports Minister was taken up in court yesterday (08).
Stating that the indictment filed by the Commission’s DG against Aluthgamage and two others had recently been amended by the Attorney General’s (AG’s) Department, the Commission’s Assistant Director General (ADG) Subhashini Siriwardena informed the court that it had been done without the consent of the Commission’s three commissioners or the DG.
She further stated that she has not yet received legal advice on whether to continue or withdraw the said case.
Pointing out that she has not been instructed by the Bribery Commission to withdraw the indictment filed against the accused, Siriwardena added that the Commission intended to act on the indictment filed earlier.
Subhashini Siriwardena also requested the court to give her time to inform of the final decision regarding the case.
Taking into consideration her request, the Permanent Trial-at-Bar reprimanded the Bribery Commission for its indecisiveness and directed it to inform the court of the final decision on the case on 25 February 2022.
courtesy NewsWire
