Avant-Garde: Gotabaya Rajapaksa and 7 others discharged of all charges

Colombo(News 1st) - Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne ordered that the eight suspects, including Gotabaya Rajapaksa, be discharged from the charges filed against them by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption regarding the Avant-Garde incident. The verdict had been declared by the Court of Appeals on September 12th. The Chief Magistrate who absolved the 8 suspects highlighted that the Bribery and Corruption Commission has not been imposed of any impediment to re-prosecute the aforementioned suspects. Four out of the eight suspects named: Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Somathilake Dissanayake, Jayaratne Perera, and Sisira Kumara Colombage appeared before the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court today (September 23). The attorneys for the defence assumed the responsibility of informing the four suspects who failed to appear in court. However, Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne informed the Court that the arrest warrant issued against Sujatha Damayanthi Jayaratne, the former Senior Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education, who was named as the 8th suspect in the case, would be lifted once she appears in court. The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption has filed this case in the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court on the allegations that the government incurred a loss of Rs.11.4 billion by allowing Avant-Garde Maritime Services to operate a floating armoury.