COLOMBO – The Fort Magistrate on Monday (19) remanded former minister Rishad Bathiudeen and six others who had allegedly helped him to avoid arrest, until October 27.
Police investigators arrested Bathiudeen at an apartment in Dehiwala in the early hours of Monday morning, and also took into custody several others who are said to to have helped hide him from police, who have been looking for the high-profile politician for more than a week. One of Bathiudeen’s Attorneys, Gowry Thavarasa, said he was arrested in connection with the alleged misuse of government property.
Attorney General Dappula de Livera last week instructed police to arrest Bathiudeen in connection with the alleged misuse of government funds to transport voters from Puttalam to Mannar during last year’s presidential elections.
According to a statement released by the AG’s Co-ordinating Officer, Nishara Jayaratna, on Monday, the CID is conducting investigations into “more than ten other cases” against the former minister. Many of these cases relate to money laundering, she said, adding that the AG had written to the Acting Inspector General Chandana Wickramaratne, instructing the police to submit a report regarding the investigations to the court within two weeks.
The hunt for the high-profile politician had been a talking point in the media for the past few days.
The AG upbraided the Criminal Investigation Department over police failure to arrest Bathiudeen last week.
According to a statement, the AG had summoned the Deputy Inspector General of Police CID Prasad Ranasinghe to his office last week and advised him to uphold the Rule of Law and act in a manner that “builds the confidence the general public has in the police not lose their confidence.”
Bathiudeen’s lawyers filed a writ petition before the Court of Appeal to prevent his arrest, after the police said they have deployed six teams to look for him.
Thavarasa said the stay order had not been given as it was not supported and is due to come up on Tuesday (20). Police arrested the politician before the order was given.
Last Tuesday (13) police arrested his accountant and the police bodyguard. Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ajith Rohana, told reporters Alagaratnam Manoranjan, the accountant had allegedly organized the 222 buses to transport the voters at State expense.
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