Four respondents, including Tiran Alles, acquitted of the RADA case

Friday, 10 July 2020 - 11:27

Four+respondents%2C+including+Tiran+Alles%2C+acquitted+of+the+RADA+case


The Colombo High Court today acquitted four suspects, including former RADA chairman Tiran Alles, of all charges of misappropriating government funds in the implementation of a housing project for people displaced by the tsunami in the North and East. This was when the relevant case was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Pradeep Hettiarachchi.

In the year 2006, Rs. 124 million had been allocated to Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA), from the Treasury for the construction of a housing project for the people who lost their homes due to the tsunami disaster in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

However, in 2016, during the previous good governance government the Attorney General had filed a case against the Chairman of RADA - Tiran Alles, Saliya Wickramasuriya, the CEO of RADA, Jayantha Dias Samarasinghe the Accountant and Anthony Emil Kanthan on charges of misappropriation of funds without building the said houses.

When the case was taken up today, Chandra Kanthi Fernando, a former CEO of RADA, stated that she had not seen the originals of some of the documents relevant to the case and that she had only handed over the photocopies to the police.

The Deputy Solicitor General, Dileepa Peiris, told the court that the witness was taking a position contrary to the stand taken by her during the investigation of the complaint and requested permission to name her as a prejudicial witness and to permit to proceed with the witnesses.

Accordingly, the judge granted permission to the Deputy Solicitor General to obtain further evidence from the relevant witness. After conducting the evidence hearing, the Deputy Solicitor General Dileep Peiris informed the court that the case against the accused would not be continued and that the hearing of the witness from the defendants would be concluded.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Solicitor General informed the court that appropriate action is expected to be taken in the future regarding this witness.

High Court Judge Pradeep Hettiarachchi accepted the request and ordered the release of the four accused including Tiran Alles. He also ordered the travel ban imposed on the defendants to be lifted.

The judge also granted permission for the request made by the Attorney representing the second respondent Anthony Emil Kanthan, to recall the warrant issued on his client.

 

 


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