The Colombo High Court served indictments on Minister Rajitha Senaratne and two others over the case allegedly causing a loss to the government when leasing out the Modara Fisheries harbour to a private company while he was Fisheries Minister in 2014.
The case was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Pradeep Hettiarachchi and after serving the indictments, he ordered to release the accused on one surety of Rs.1 mn each.
The case will be taken up again on April 22 to whether consider all the requirement have been completed for the trial.
Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption Director General filed indictments against former Minister Rajitha Senaratne, former Ceylon Fisheries Harbour Corporation (CFHC) Chairman Upali Liyanage and former CFHC Managing Director Neil Ravindra Munasinghe under Section 70 of the Bribery Act on five charges.
The Bribery Commission alleged that the former Minister had unlawfully taken a decision to lease out the Modara Fisheries harbour to Sea Gulf UK Private Ltd at a lower price between August 1, 2014 and November 1, 2014, while he was serving as the Fisheries Minister.
The Bribery Commission alleged that by knowing this transaction would cause unlawful loss to the Government, the former Minister had motivated the members of the CFHC Director Board to lease out the fisheries harbour to Sea Gulf UK Private Ltd. The indictments had been filed under five counts under Section 70 of the Bribery Act and Section 113 and 102 of the Penal Code. The prosecution had named 17 individuals as witnesses. The Bribery Commission further listed 55 documents as production items in the case.
