Witness disowns complaint in case against ex-power minister
COLOMBO -The first prosecution witness in a corruption case against former Power Minister Kumar Jayakody told the Colombo High Court that although a complaint against the former minister had been sent from his email account, he could not accept responsibility for its contents.
The testimony was given before Colombo High Court Judge Rashantha Godawela during proceedings in a case filed by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC).
Jayakody, who has been released on bail, was present in court when the evidence was recorded.
The witness, Dammika Perera, a retired employee of Lanka Fertilizer Company and a former office-bearer of the company’s National Services Association, testified that he had been summoned by the Bribery Commission approximately a decade ago to provide a statement regarding a complaint that had been transmitted from his personal email account.
According to Perera, the email in question was sent on February 25, 2015, at the request of the then-president of the association.
He told the court that as he was preparing to leave work that afternoon, the association president handed him information written on a piece of paper and asked him to send it via email because he was unable to do so himself.
Perera maintained that while the complaint had been transmitted using his email account, he was not responsible for drafting its contents.
The prosecution is seeking to establish the circumstances surrounding the complaint that led to the corruption investigation against the former minister.
The court ordered the second and twenty-first witnesses in the case to appear before the court on July 21, when the hearing is scheduled to continue.
According to the indictment filed by the Bribery Commission, Jayakody is accused of causing a loss of Rs 8.86 million to the state through the alleged inflation of prices in a transaction connected to Lanka Fertilizer Company.
The former minister has denied the allegations and was released earlier on personal bail of Rs 1 million following the filing of charges.
-ENCL
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