Permanent High Court issues warning to Chairman of the Mines bureau

COLOMBO(News 1st) - The Chairman of the Geological Survey & Mines Bureau M.A.S.Iddawela was warned today by the Permanent High Court Trial at Bar to conduct himself within the court in a manner that safeguards the respect of his profession. M.A.S.Iddawela is the 67th witness in the case filed against Former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and 06 others. The Bench after taking into consideration the facts presented by Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris who leads the prosecution warned the Bureau Chairman that he was summoned to court as a witness to testify and not to show any form of respect to the defendants and not to engage in any kind of cordial discussions with them. The Deputy Solicitor General informed the court that when the Former Defence Secretary entered the court premises on Tuesday(January 22), Iddawela had rushed towards Gotabaya Rajapaksa and greeted him with a handshake. The Deputy Solicitor General further clarified that such conduct cannot be expected from an independent witness and he stressed, the prosecution does not act based on the positions and status held by individuals. Today(January 25) the bench granted the witness permission to travel to India on a personal visit from the 02nd to the 04th of February. In addition, the 53rd witness in the case Suresh Bandara Atapattu who serves as a Director of the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation & Development Corporation was permitted to travel overseas after placing two sureties of Rs. 1.5 Million each. The court also permitted the 3rd witness in the case, Deputy General Manager of the Ceylon Electricity Board Rohan Praneetha Seneviratne to travel to Japan from the 16th to the 23rd of February. The case will be taken up again on the 31st of January.