Indictments filed against Former Minister Sarath Gunaratna

COLOMBO (News1 st) - The Colombo High Court today (April 25), filed indictments against former Deputy Minister of Fisheries, Sarath Kumara Gunaratna, and five others. High Court Judge, R. Gurusinghe, issued orders for the suspects to be released on a cash bail of Rs. 25,000 each and two sureties of Rs. 500,000 each. They were also banned from overseas travel. The case filed by the Attorney General is against Former Deputy Minister Sarath Kumara Gunaratna, Former Chairman of the Ceylon Fishery Harbours Corporation Piyal Abeysekera, Former Chairman of the National Lotteries Board Upali Liyanage, Chandana Palpita, Upul Chaminda Perera Kumarasinghe and Lakmina Munidasa. Six indictments have been filed against the suspects on the charge of misappropriating over Rs. 11 million of funds allocated to develop the Negombo Lagoon. The missapproproiated funds are believed to have been used for campaigning during the  2015 presidential election. The money was allegedly spent on a political meetings of Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Negombo Urban Council on 30th of December 2014. The case will be taken up again on the 4th of June.