Court Freezes Use of 12 Vehicles in Rs. 5 BN Matara Co-op Fraud Probe

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Matara High Court has ordered a ban on the use of 12 vehicles allegedly purchased by Chaminda Gunasekara using funds said to have been misappropriated from the Matara District Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Limited in a fraud estimated at Rs. 5,000 million.

The court ruled that the vehicles cannot be used until March 11 next year.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had taken custody of the vehicles, which were in the possession of various individuals, on several occasions before presenting them to court.

Meanwhile, former Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena today (11) provided a statement to the CID.

The statement was recorded in connection with allegations that the former minister had used a jeep belonging to Chaminda Gunasekara, the former Chairman of the Matara Cooperative Society, who is currently in remand custody over financial fraud allegations.

Police said statements were recorded from the former minister for nearly four hours, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. today.

Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Varuni Bogahawatta and four others have been further remanded until the 20th.

The case relates to allegations that lease payments for a vehicle owned by her had been settled by former Matara Cooperative Society Chairman Chaminda Gunasekara.

The CID informed court that investigations had revealed substantial sums of money had been deposited into the suspect's bank accounts.

A Honda Vezel belonging to Varuni Bogahawatta, who serves as the officer in charge of the administration division at the Kotawila Police Station, was recently taken into custody by the Police Financial and Commercial Crimes Investigation Division.

Meanwhile, former Parliamentarian Buddhika Pathirana was also summoned to the CID in recent days over allegations that he had used a vehicle belonging to Chaminda Gunasekara.