Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage on February 8, denied a request to return to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa the almost Rs. 20 million in cash discovered inside the President’s official residence during a mass protest in 2022.
The former President’s lawyer had asked the magistrate to hand over the cash found by anti-government protestors during mass protests in July of last year.
Rejecting the request, Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage stated that it was the court’s responsibility to undertake an investigation into the amount of cash before issuing an order.
Accordingly, appearing on behalf of the former President, President’s Counsel (PC) Harigupta Senadeera requested that the funds, amounting to nearly Rs. 17.5 million, which is currently in the custody of the court, be handed over back to Rajapaksa.
However, the opposing counsel, including President’s Counsel Rienzie Arsekularatne, vehemently objected to the funds being released back to Rajapaksa in the absence of a formal investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering and Bribery Acts, adding that the manner in which the funds were obtained were not revealed in Rajapaksa’s statement.
Thus, they requested that the court refrain from handing over the money on the grounds that the former President was not present in court, and that the manner in which he obtained these funds are yet to be disclosed.
Appearing on behalf of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Attorney-at-Law DIG Ruwan Gunasekara stated that the IGP had ordered that the relevant investigations be handed over to the CID from the Special Crimes Unit on the instructions of Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles, as they had delayed investigations.
