The Colombo High Court Thursday issued summons on Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka and former Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga to testify in the case against the former Chairman of Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA) Tiran Alles and three others.
Alles,, former North and Eastern Provinces LTTE Financial Head Emil Kanthan, former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of RADA Saliya Wickramasuriya and Dr. Jayantha Dias Samarasinghe have been charged under the Public Property Act in connection for allegedly misappropriating Rs.200 million of funds belong to the now defunct Reconstruction and Development Agency in 2006.
When the case was taken up before the Colombo High Court Judge Wikum Kaluarachchi Friday, the defense attorneys cross examined Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe the National Organizer of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), who has been named as one of the witnesses of the case.
The Colombo High Court then issued summons to Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka and former Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga to appear before the court to testify at the next hearing of the case on October 10.
The second accused Emil Kanthan was absconding and the court decided to proceed with the hearing of the case without the second defendant. It has been reported that Rs. 645 million, given to the RADA has been taken by the LTTE financial chief Emil Kanthan and Tiran Alles through another company.
RADA, founded by the previous government, has collected funds to build houses for people in the North and East, who lost their homes due to the devastating Boxing Day tsunami in 2004. The agency closed down in 2006.
